Hymns of the Christian Church.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.
Reginald Heber17831826
Modern HymnsEarly Piety
B
How sweet the lily grows!
How sweet the breath beneath the hill
Of Sharon’s dewy rose!
The paths of peace have trod,
Whose secret heart with influence sweet,
Is upward drawn to God.
The lily must decay;
The rose that blooms beneath the hill
Must shortly fade away;
And soon, too soon, the wintry hour
Of man’s maturer age
Will shake the soul with sorrow’s power
And stormy passion’s rage.
Within Thy Father’s shrine,
Whose years with changeless virtue crowned
Were all alike divine,
Dependent on Thy bounteous breath,
We seek Thy grace alone,
In childhood, manhood, age, and death
To keep us still Thine own.