Henry Charles Beeching, ed. (1859–1919). Lyra Sacra: A Book of Religious Verse. 1903.
By Henry Vaughan (16221695)Love and Discipline
SINCE in a land not barren still, | |
Because Thou dost Thy grace distil, | |
My lot is fallen, blest be Thy will. | |
And since these biting frosts but kill | |
Some tares in me which choke or spill | 5 |
That seed Thou sow’st, blest be Thy skill! | |
Blest be Thy dew, and blest Thy frost, | |
And happy I to be so crost | |
And cured by crosses at Thy cost. | |
The dew doth cheer what is distrest, | 10 |
The frosts ill weeds nip and molest, | |
In both Thou work’st unto the best. | |
Thus while Thy several mercies plot, | |
And work on me, now cold, now hot, | |
The work goes on and slacketh not; | 15 |
For as Thy hand the weather steers, | |
So thrive I blest ’twixt joys and tears, | |
And all the year have some green ears. | |