Johnson’s speaker contrasts two reactions to loss. The faint lose faith when everything they cared about is buried and no sign of joy or sorrow returns. The strong keep hoping even as earth closes over them, grass grows, and no word is said. But then the poem turns inward. We each carry a small world inside ourselves, where our deepest yearnings fade daily, get buried, and are replaced by new ones that are crucified in turn. The mood is quiet and weary, yet not entirely hopeless. The repeated “And yet—” suggests something in us keeps going, keeps making fresh longings despite the pattern of loss. It reads as a meditation on the stubborn, quiet faith ordinary life requires.
Faith — Summary
The faint lose faith When in the tomb their all is laid, And there returns No echoing of weal or woe.
The strong hope on, They see the clods close over head, The grass grow green. No word is said.
And yet — A little world within the world Are we, Daily our hearts' high yearnings fade, Are buried ! New ones are made, — Are crucified ! And yet —