Father, I will not ask for wealth or fame,
Though once they would have joyed my carnal sense:
I shudder not to bear a hated name,
Wanting all wealth, myself my sole defence.
But give me, Lord, eyes to behold the truth;
A seeing sense that knows the eternal right;
A heart with pity filled, and gentlest ruth;
A manly faith that...
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O Thou who hast beneath Thy hand
The dark foundations of the land,—
The motion of whose ordered thought
An instant universe hath wrought,—Who hast within Thine equal heed
The rolling sun, the ripening seed,
The azure of the speedwell’s eye,
The vast solemnities of sky,—Who hear’st no less the feeble note
Of one small... -
O Master, let me walk with thee
In lowly paths of service free;
Tell me thy secret; help me bear
The strain of toil, the fret of care;
Help me the slow of heart to move
By some clear winning word of love;
Teach me the wayward feet to stay,
And guide them in the homeward way.O Master, let me walk with thee
Before the... -
O World, thou choosest not the better part!
It is not wisdom to be only wise,
And on the inward vision close the eyes,
But it is wisdom to believe the heart.
Columbus found a world, and had no chart,
Save one that faith deciphered in the skies;
To trust the soul’s invincible surmise
Was all his science and his only art.
Our... -
[The author of this poem, one of the victims of the persecuting Henry VIII., was burnt to death at Smithfield in 1546. It was made and sung by her while a prisoner in Newgate.]
LIKE as the armèd Knighte,
Appointed to the fielde,
With this world wil I fight,
And faith shal be my shilde.Faith is that weapon stronge,
Which wil not faile at... -
From “In Memoriam,” XCV.
YOU say, but with no touch of scorn,
Sweet-hearted, you, whose light-blue eyes
Are tender over drowning flies,
You tell me, doubt is Devil-born.I know not: one indeed I knew
In many a subtle question versed,
Who touched a jarring lyre at first,
But ever strove to make it true:Perplext...
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MY times are in thy hand!
I know not what a day
Or e’en an hour may bring to me,
But I am safe while trusting thee,
Though all things fade away.
All weakness, I
On him rely
Who fixed the earth and spread the starry sky.My times are in thy hand!
Pale poverty or wealth,... -
E’en like two little bank-dividing brooks,
That wash the pebbles with their wanton streams,
And having ranged and searched a thousand nooks,
Meet both at length in silver-breasted Thames,
Where in a greater current they conjoin:
So I my Best-Belovèd’s am; so He is mine.E’en so we met; and after long pursuit,
E’en so we... -
Ah! I shall kill myself with dreams!
These dreams that softly lap me round
Through trance-like hours in which meseems
That I am swallowed up and drowned;
Drowned in your love, which flows o’er me
As o’er the seaweed flows the sea.In watches of the middle night,
’Twixt vesper and ’twixt matin bell,
With rigid arms and... -
Come, my way, my truth, my life—
Such a way as gives us breath;
Such a truth as ends all strife;
Such a life as killeth death.Come my light, my feast, my strength—
Such a light as shows a feast;
Such a feast as mends in length;
Such a strength as makes His guest.Come my joy, my love, my heart!
Such a joy as...