Henry Charles Beeching, ed. (1859–1919). Lyra Sacra: A Book of Religious Verse. 1903.
By George Herbert (1593–1633)From “The Church Porch”: Friendship
| THY friend put in thy bosom: wear his eyes | |
| Still in thy heart, that he may see what’s there. | |
| If cause require, thou art his sacrifice; | |
| Thy drops of blood must pay down all his fear; | |
| But love is lost; the way of friendship’s gone, | 5 |
| Though David had his Jonathan, Christ His John. | |
| Yet be not surety, if thou be a father. | |
| Love is a personal debt. I cannot give | |
| My children’s right, nor ought he take it: rather | |
| Both friends should die, than hinder them to live: | 10 |
| Fathers first enter bonds to nature’s ends; | |
| And are her sureties, ere they are a friend’s. | |