Henry Charles Beeching, ed. (1859–1919). Lyra Sacra: A Book of Religious Verse. 1903.

By Charles Kingsley (1819–1875)

A Nun’s Song


FAR 1 among the lonely hills,
As I lay beside my sheep,
Rest came down upon my soul
From the everlasting deep.

Changeless march the stars above,	5
Changeless morn succeeds to even;
And the everlasting hills
Changeless watch the changeless heaven.

See the rivers how they run
Changeless to the changeless sea;	10
All around is forethought sure,
Fixèd will and stern decree.

Can the sailor move the main?
Will the potter heed the clay?
Mortal, where the spirit drives	15
Thither must the wheels obey.

Neither ask, nor fret, nor strive;
Where thy path is thou shalt go.
He who made the streams of time
Wafts thee down to weal or woe.	20

Note 1. These songs of Charles Kingsley’s are from “The Saints’ Tragedy” (1848). [back]