The World
[1] By day she woos me, soft, exceeding fair:
[2] But all night as the moon so changeth she;
[3] Loathsome and foul with hideous leprosy
[4] And subtle serpents gliding in her hair.
[5] By day she woos me to the outer air,
[6] Ripe fruits, sweet flowers, and full satiety:
[7] But through the night, a beast she grins at me,
[8] A very monster void of love and prayer.
[9] By day she stands a lie: by night she stands
[10] In all the naked horror of the truth
[11] With pushing horns and clawed and clutching hands.
[12] Is this a friend indeed; that I should sell
[13] My soul to her, give her my life and youth,
[14] Till my feet, cloven too, take hold on hell?
One Certainty
[1] Vanity of vanities, the Preacher saith,
[2] All things are vanity. The eye and ear
[3] Cannot be filled with what they see and hear.
[4] Like early dew, or like the sudden breath
[5] Of wind, or like the grass that withereth,
[6] Is man, tossed to and fro by hope and fear:
[7] So little joy hath he, so little cheer,
[8] Till all things end in the long dust of death.
[9] To-day is still the same as yesterday,
[10] To-morrow also even as one of them;
[11] And there is nothing new under the sun:
[12] Until the ancient race of Time be run,
[13] The old thorns shall grow out of the old stem,
[14] And morning shall be cold and twilight grey.
Consider the Lilies
[1] Flowers preach to us if we will hear:—
[2] The rose saith in the dewy morn:
[3] I am most fair;
[4] Yet all my loveliness is born
[5] Upon a thorn.
[6] The poppy saith amid the corn:
[7] Let but my scarlet head appear
[8] And I am held in scorn;
[9] Yet juice of subtle virtue lies
[10] Within my cup of curious dyes.
[11] The lilies say: Behold how we
[12] Preach without words of purity.
[13] The violets whisper from the shade
[14] Which their own leaves have made:
[15] Men scent our fragrance on the air,
[16] Yet take no heed
[17] Of humble lessons we would read.
[18] But not alone the fairest flowers:
[19] The merest grass
[20] Along the roadside where we pass,
[21] Lichen and moss and sturdy weed,
[22] Tell of His love who sends the dew,
[23] The rain and sunshine too,
[24] To nourish one small seed.
The Love of Christ Which Passeth Knowledge
[1] I bore with thee long weary days and nights,
[2] Through many pangs of heart, through many tears;
[3] I bore with thee, thy hardness, coldness, slights,
[4] For three and thirty years.
[5] Who else had dared for thee what I have dared?
[6] I plunged the depth most deep from bliss above;
[7] I not My flesh, I not My spirit spared:
[8] Give thou Me love for love.
[9] For thee I thirsted in the daily drouth,
[10] For thee I trembled in the nightly frost:
[11] Much sweeter thou than honey to My mouth:
[12] Why wilt thou still be lost?
[13] I bore thee on My shoulders and rejoiced:
[14] Men only marked upon My shoulders borne
[15] The branding cross; and shouted hungry-voiced,
[16] Or wagged their heads in scorn.
[17] Thee did nails grave upon My hands, thy name
[18] Did thorns for frontlets stamp between Mine eyes:
[19] I, Holy One, put on thy guilt and shame;
[20] I, God, Priest, Sacrifice.
[21] A thief upon My right hand and My left;
[22] Six hours alone, athirst, in misery:
[23] At length in death one smote My heart and cleft
[24] A hiding-place for thee.
[25] Nailed to the racking cross, than bed of down
[26] More dear, whereon to stretch Myself and sleep:
[27] So did I win a kingdom,—share my crown;
[28] A harvest,—come and reap.
A Better Resurrection
[1] I have no wit, no words, no tears;
[2] My heart within me like a stone
[3] Is numb'd too much for hopes or fears;
[4] Look right, look left, I dwell alone;
[5] I lift mine eyes, but dimm'd with grief
[6] No everlasting hills I see;
[7] My life is in the falling leaf:
[8] O Jesus, quicken me.
[9] My life is like a faded leaf,
[10] My harvest dwindled to a husk:
[11] Truly my life is void and brief
[12] And tedious in the barren dusk;
[13] My life is like a frozen thing,
[14] No bud nor greenness can I see:
[15] Yet rise it shall, the sap of Spring;
[16] O Jesus, rise in me.
[17] My life is like a broken bowl,
[18] A broken bowl that cannot hold
[19] One drop of water for my soul
[20] Or cordial in the searching cold;
[21] Cast in the fire the perish'd thing;
[22] Melt and remould it, till it be
[23] A royal cup for Him, my King:
[24] O Jesus, drink of me.
Symbols
[1] I watched a rosebud very long
[2] Brought on by dew and sun and shower,
[3] Waiting to see the perfect flower:
[4] Then, when I thought it should be strong,
[5] It opened at the matin hour
[6] And fell at evensong.
[7] I watched a nest from day to day,
[8] A green nest full of pleasant shade,
[9] Wherein three speckled eggs were laid:
[10] But when they should have hatched in May,
[11] The two old birds had grown afraid
[12] Or tired, and flew away.
[13] Then in my wrath I broke the bough
[14] That I had tended so with care,
[15] Hoping its scent should fill the air;
[16] I crushed the eggs, not heeding how
[17] Their ancient promise had been fair:
[18] I would have vengeance now.
[19] But the dead branch spoke from the sod,
[20] And the eggs answered me again:
[21] Because we failed dost thou complain?
[22] Is thy wrath just? And what if God,
[23] Who waiteth for thy fruits in vain,
[24] Should also take the rod?
Amen
[1] It is over. What is over?
[2] Nay, now much is over truly! —
[3] Harvest days we toiled to sow for;
[4] Now the sheaves are gathered newly,
[5] Now the wheat is garnered duly.
[6] It is finished. What is finished?
[7] Much is finished known or unknown:
[8] Lives are finished; time diminished;
[9] Was the fallow field left unsown?
[10] Will these buds be always unblown?
[11] It suffices. What suffices?
[12] All suffices reckoned rightly:
[13] Spring shall bloom where now the ice is,
[14] Roses make the bramble sightly,
[15] And the quickening sun shine brightly,
[16] And the latter wind blow lightly,
[17] And my garden teem with spices.
Isaiah 55:1
Everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yeah, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.