Henry Charles Beeching, ed. (1859–1919). Lyra Sacra: A Book of Religious Verse. 1903.
By Richard Chenevix Trench (18071886)The Kingdom of God
I SAY to thee, do thou repeat | |
To the first man thou mayest meet | |
In lane, highway, or open street— | |
That he and we and all men move | |
Under a canopy of love, | 5 |
As broad as the blue sky above; | |
That doubt and trouble, fear and pain | |
And anguish, all are shadows vain, | |
That death itself shall not remain; | |
That dreary deserts we may tread, | 10 |
A dreary labyrinth may thread, | |
Through dark ways underground be led; | |
Yet, if we will one Guide obey, | |
The dreariest path, the darkest way, | |
Shall issue out in heavenly day. | 15 |
And we, on divers shores now cast, | |
Shall meet, our perilous voyage past. | |
All in our Father’s house at last. | |
And ere thou leave him, say thou this | |
Yet one word more—they only miss | 20 |
The winning of that final bliss, | |
Who will not count it true that Love, | |
Blessing, not cursing, rules above, | |
And that in it we live and move. | |
And one thing further make him know, | 25 |
That to believe these things are so, | |
This firm faith never to forgo, | |
Despite of all which seems at strife | |
With blessings, all with curses rife, | |
That this is blessing, this is life. | 30 |