AS he that sees a dark and shadie grove, Stays not, but looks beyond it on the skie; So when I view my sinnes, mine eyes remove More backward still, and to that water flie, Which is above the heavns, whose spring and vent Is in my deare Redeemers pierced side. O blessed streams! either ye do prevent And stop our sinnes from growing thick and wide, Or else give tears to drown them, as they grow. In you Redemption measures all my time, And spreads the plaister equall to the crime. You taught the Book of Life my name, that so What ever future sinnes should me miscall, Your first acquaintance might discredit all. |
SInce, Lord, to thee A narrow way and little gate Is all the passage, on my infancie Thou didst lay hold, and antedate My faith in me. O let me still Write thee great God, and me a childe: Let me be soft and supple to thy will, Small to my self, to others milde, Behither1 ill. Although by stealth My flesh get on, yet let her sister My soul bid nothing, but preserve her wealth: The growth of flesh is but a blister; Childhood is health. |
1 behither. short of; barring; save. [This line quoted in Oxford English Dictionary .] [ Return ] Compare and Contrast with Wordsworths Ode on Intimations of Immortality . Editors note: In the 1633 edition, both these poems are on the same page with titles and horizontal rule as above, without numbering. Note on Sonnet form and organization. |
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