Aspiration

Image by McNaught Photos from Pixabay

We have had the pleasure of hosting several groups of college students in our home during the past few months. It has been enlivening to visit with these bright, conscientious, aspiring young people. It’s been especially exciting to hear the seniors talking about their post-graduation plans.

If you, like me, are sometimes tempted to despair about the state of the world, I have a suggestion: find a bright young person and ask them about their plans for the future. Chances are that you’ll soon discover new reasons to hope.

Aspiration

by Henrietta Cordelia Ray (1849–1916)

We climb the slopes of life with throbbing heart,
And eager pulse, like children toward a star.
Sweet siren music cometh from afar,
To lure us on meanwhile. Responsive start
The nightingales to richer song than Art
Can ever teach. No passing shadows mar
Awhile the dewy skies; no inner jar
Of conflict bids us with our quest to part.
We see adown the distance, rainbow-arched,
What melting aisles of liquid light and bloom!
We hasten, tremulous, with lips all parched,
And eyes wide-stretched, nor dream of coming gloom.
Enough that something held almost divine
Within us ever stirs. Can we repine?

Originally published in Ray’s collection, Poems (Grafton Press, 1910).

CONGRATUALTIONS, 2025 GRADUATES!