If I forget,
Yet God remembers! If these hands of mine
Cease from their clinging, yet the hands divine
Hold me so firmly that I cannot fall;
And if sometimes I am too tired to call
For Him to help me, then He reads the prayer
Unspoken in my heart, and lifts my care.
I dare not fear, since certainly I know
That I am in God’s keeping, shielded so
From all that else would harm, and in the hour
Of stern temptation strengthened by His power;
I tread no path in life to Him unknown;
I lift no burden, bear no pain, alone:
My soul a calm, sure hiding-place has found:
The everlasting arms my life surround.
God, Thou art love! I build my faith on that.
I know Thee who has kept my path, and made
Light for me in the darkness, tempering sorrow
So that it reached me like a solemn joy;
It were too strange that I should doubt Thy love.
—Robert Browning
My father-in-law gave me this poem years ago and it has been on my refrigerator since. I used the internet to confirm that “God Thou Art Love” was indeed written by Robert Browning, but could not find this poem in any list of Browning works. I finally stumbled on this website and lo and behold, here is the exact poem, attributed to Robert Browning! I wonder why it is not listed with his other works.
I forget how I came by it – likely in an email. Browning was a towering soul that his words could reach across so many years and still have so much force of emotion. Language is such a gift to humans.
I actually found this poem in an old hymnal: Hymns for the Family of God as a devotional. It is also used by John Rutter in one of his arrangements/compositions (Name the same as the poem). It’s a beautiful piece made masterful by Robert Brownings words.
Thanks Stacy! I just love how Browning makes God’s omnipotence clear: “I tread no path in life to Him unknown” – that says it ALL!