¶ An Offering.
COme, bring thy gift. If blessings were as slow As mens returns, what would become of fools? What hast thou there? a heart? but is it pure? Search well and see; for hearts have many holes. Yet one pure heart is nothing to bestow: In Christ two natures met to be thy cure. O that within us hearts had propagation, Since many gifts do challenge many hearts! Yet one, if good, may title to a number; And single things grow fruitfull by deserts. In publick judgements one may be a nation, And fence a plague, while others sleep and slumber. But all I fear is lest thy heart displease, As neither good, nor one: so oft divisions Thy lusts have made, and not thy lusts alone; Thy passions also have their set partitions. These parcell out thy heart: recover these, And thou mayst offer many gifts in one. There is a balsome, or indeed a bloud, Dropping from heavn, which doth both cleanse and close All sorts of wounds; of such strange force it is. Seek out this All-heal, and seek no repose, Untill thou finde and use it to thy good: Then bring thy gift, and let thy hymne be this; |
Note on Form: Herberts poems sometimes take a double-poem organization with two separate stanza forms. Because he played the lute and was familiar with popular songs of his day, he may have adapted this two-part structure. He may even have intended the poems to be sung. [a Music Interpretation: "An Offering" |
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