W. Garrett Horder, comp. The Poets’ Bible: New Testament. 1895.
The Fishermen of Bethsaida
John Keble (17921866)“T
But at Thy gracious word
I will let down the net again:
Do Thou Thy will, O Lord!”
With bootless darkling toil,
Yet on his Master’s bidding bent
For love, and not for spoil.
In sad and weary thought,
They muse, whom God hath sent to seek
The souls His Christ hath bought.
Our pleasant task we ply,
Where all along our glistening wake
The softest moonbeams lie;
Our midnight chant attend,
Or whispering palm-leaves from the shore
With midnight silence blend.
Too soon some ruder sound
Calls us from where ye soar so fast
Back to our earthly round.
No anchor but the Cross
Might hold; and oft the thankless deep
Turns all our toil to loss.
We watch our nets alone,
In drenching spray and driving shower,
And hear the night-bird’s moan.
Sad dawn of cheerless day!
Who then from pining and despair
The sickening heart can stay?
Our Master is at hand,
To cheer our solitary song,
And guide us to the strand.
Our bark at sea must ride;
Cast after cast, by force or guile,
All waters must be tried.
As when He deign’d to teach
(The lode-star of our Christian course)
Upon this sacred beach.
Triumph by our weak arm,
Let not our sinful fancy trace
Aught human in the charm.
Lest on the eternal shore
The angels, while our draught they own,
Reject us evermore
Toil, prayer, and watching fail,
In disappointment Thou canst bless,
So love at heart prevail.