Late it is, for the curtain now to rise

the script so smudged, the royalties long paid

the path meandering from light to shade

yet now I see wherein His  Presence lies.

Now is the invitation!  All at once the voice!

My hand in His, His  Presence is for me

He is the One Who acts, we inward see

The  loving One who gives  the saving choice

The sacrifice, the going to the cross -

He leads me gently on that holy way.

We walk together now, this  very day

and  bit by bit, no longer count the cost.

You see it is, at last, the real start

As if, before, I never had a heart.