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Home  »  Lyra Sacra: A Book of Religious Verse  »  Deeds not Words

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

By John Henry Newman (1801–1890)

Deeds not Words

 
PRUNE thou thy words, the thoughts control
  That o’er thee swell and throng;
They will condense within thy soul,
  And change to purpose strong.
 
But he who lets his feelings run        5
  In soft luxurious flow,
Shrinks when hard service must be done,
  And faints at every woe.
 
Faith’s meanest deed more favour bears,
  Where hearts and wills are weighed,        10
Than brightest transports, choicest prayers,
  Which bloom their hour and fade.