[ { "title": "H. Baptism", "author": "George Herbert", "lines": [ "As he that sees a dark and shady grove,", "Stays not, but looks beyond it on the sky;", "So when I view my sins, mine eyes remove", "More backward still, and to that water fly,", "Which is above the heav'ns, whose spring and rest", "Is in my dear Redeemer's pierced side.", "O blessed streams! either ye do prevent", "And stop our sins 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 plaster equal to the crime;", "You taught the book of life my name, that so", "What ever future sins should me miscall,", "Your first acquaintance might discredit all." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Prayer", "author": "George Herbert", "lines": [ "Prayer the Churches banquet, Angels age,", "Gods breath in man returning to his birth,", "The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgramage,", "The Christian plummet sounding heav'n and earth;", "Engine against th'Almightie, sinners towre,", "Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,", "The six-daies world-transposing in an houre,", "A kinde of tune, which all things heare and fear;", "Softnesse, and peace, and joy, and love, and blisse,", "Exalted Manna, gladnesse of the best,", "Heaven in ordinarie, man well drest,", "The milkie way, the bird of Paradise,", "Church-bels beyond the starres heard, the souls bloud,", "The land of spices; something understood." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Easter Wings", "author": "George Herbert", "lines": [ "Lord, who createdst man in wealth and store,", " Though foolishly he lost the same,", " Decaying more and more,", " Till he became", " Most poor:", " With thee", " O let me rise", " As larks, harmoniously,", " And sing this day thy victories:", " Then shall the fall further the flight in me.", "", " My tender age in sorrow did begin:", " And still with sicknesses and shame", " Thou didst so punish sin,", " That I became", " Most thin.", " With thee", " Let me combine", " And feel this day thy victory:", " For, if I imp my wing on thine,", " Affliction shall advance the flight in me." ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "Sin's Round", "author": "George Herbert", "lines": [ "Sorry I am, my God, sorry I am,", "That my offences course it in a ring.", "My thoughts are working like a busy flame,", "Until their cockatrice they hatch and bring:", "And when they once have perfected their draughts,", "My words take fire from my inflamed thoughts.", "", "My words take fire fro m my inflamed thoughts,", "Which spit it forth like the Sicilian hill.", "They vent their wares, and pass them with their faults,", "And by their breathing ventilate the ill.", "But words suffice not, where are lewd intentions:", "My hands do join to finish the inventions.", "", "My hands do join to finish the inventions:", "And so my sins ascend three stories high,", "As Babel grew, before there were dissentions.", "Let ill deeds loiter not: for they supply", "New thoughts of sinning:", "wherefore, to my shame,", "Sorry I am, my God, sorry I am." ], "linecount": "19" }, { "title": "Life", "author": "George Herbert", "lines": [ "I made a posie, while the day ran by:", "Here will I smell my remnant out, and tie", "My life within this band.", "But time did becken to the flowers, and they", "By noon most cunningly did steal away", "And wither'd in my hand.", "", "My hand was next to them, and then my heart:", "I took, without more thinking, in good part", "Times gentle admonition:", "Who did so sweetly deaths sad taste convey", "Making my minde to smell my fatall day;", "Yet sugring the suspicion.", "", "Farewell deare flowers, sweetly your time ye spent,", "Fit, while ye liv'd, for smell or ornament,", "And after death for cures.", "I follow straight without complaints or grief,", "Since if my sent be good, I care not, if", "It be as short as yours." ], "linecount": "18" }, { "title": "The Forerunners", "author": "George Herbert", "lines": [ "The harbingers are come. See, see their mark;", "White is their colour, and behold my head.", "But must they have my brain? must they dispark", "Those sparkling notions, which therein were bred?", "Must dulnesse turn me to a clod?", "Yet have they left me, Thou art still my God.", "", "Good men ye be, to leave me my best room,", "Ev'n all my heart, and what is lodged there:", "I passe not, I, what of the rest become,", "So Thou art still my God, be out of fear.", "He will be pleased with that dittie;", "And if I please him, I write fine and wittie.", "", "Farewell sweet phrases, lovely metaphors.", "But will ye leave me thus? when ye before", "Of stews and brothels onely knew the doores,", "Then did I wash you with my tears, and more,", "Brought you to Church well drest and clad;", "My God must have my best, ev'n all I had.", "", "Louely enchanting language, sugar-cane,", "Hony of roses, whither wilt thou flie?", "Hath some fond lover tic'd thee to thy bane?", "And wilt thou leave the Church, and love a stie?", "Fie, thou wilt soil thy broider'd coat,", "And hurt thy self, and him that sings the note.", "", "Let foolish lovers, if they will love dung,", "With canvas, not with arras clothe their shame:", "Let follie speak in her own native tongue.", "True beautie dwells on high: ours is a flame", "But borrow'd thence to light us thither.", "Beautie and beauteous words should go together.", "", "Yet if you go, I passe not; take your way:", "For, Thou art still my God, is all that ye", "Perhaps with more embellishment can say,", "Go birds of spring: let winter have his fee,", "Let a bleak palenesse chalk the doore,", "So all within be livelier then before." ], "linecount": "36" }, { "title": "The Flower", "author": "George Herbert", "lines": [ "How fresh, O Lord, how sweet and clean", "Are thy returns! ev'n as the flowers in spring;", "To which, besides their own demean,", "The late-past frosts tributes of pleasure bring.", "Grief melts away", "Like snows in May,", "As if there were no such cold thing.", "", "Who would have thought my shrivelled heart", "Could have recovered greenness? It was gone", "Quite under ground; as flowers depart", "To see their mother-root, when they have blown;", "Where they together", "All the hard weather,", "Dead to the world, keep house unknown.", "", "These are thy wonders, Lord of power,", "Killing and quick'ning, bringing down to hell", "And up to heaven in an hour;", "Making a chiming of a passing-bell.", "We say amiss,", "This or that is:", "Thy word is all, if we could spell.", "", "O that I once past changing were,", "Fast in thy Paradise, where no flower can wither!", "Many a spring I shoot up fair,", "Off'ring at heav'n, growing and groaning thither:", "Nor doth my flower", "Want a spring shower,", "My sins and I joining together.", "", "But while I grow in a straight line,", "Still upwards bent, as if heav'n were mine own,", "Thy anger comes, and I decline:", "What frost to that? What pole is not the zone,", "Where all things burn,", "When thou dost turn,", "And the least frown of thine is shown?", "", "And now in age I bud again,", "After so many deaths I live and write;", "I once more smell the dew and rain,", "And relish versing: O my only light,", "It cannot be", "That I am he", "On whom thy tempests fell all night.", "", "These are thy wonders, Lord of love,", "To make us see we are but flowers that glide;", "Which when we once can find and prove,", "Thou hast a garden for us, where to bide.", "Who would be more,", "Swelling through store,", "Forfeit their Paradise by their pride." ], "linecount": "49" }, { "title": "Sonnet (I)", "author": "George Herbert", "lines": [ "My God, where is that ancient heat towards thee,", "Wherewith whole showls of Martyrs once did burn,", "Besides their other flames? Doth Poetry", "Wear Venus livery? only serve her turn?", "Why are not Sonnets made of thee? and layes", "Upon thine Altar burnt? Cannot thy love", "Heighten a spirit to sound out thy praise", "As well as any she? Cannot thy Dove", "Out-strip their Cupid easily in flight?", "Or, since thy wayes are deep, and still the fame,", "Will not a verse run smooth that bears thy name!", "Why doth that fire, which by thy power and might", "Each breast does feel, no braver fuel choose", "Than that, which one day, Worms, may chance refuse?" ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "H. Baptism II", "author": "George Herbert", "lines": [ "Since, Lord, to thee", "A narrow way and little gate", "Is all the passage, on my infancy", "Thou didst lay hold, and antedate", "My faith in me.", "", "O let me still", "Write thee great God, and me a child:", "Let me be soft and supple to thy will,", "Small to my self, to others mild,", "Behither 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." ], "linecount": "15" }, { "title": "Easter", "author": "George Herbert", "lines": [ "Rise, heart, thy lord is risen. Sing his praise", "Without delays,", "Who takes thee by the hand, that thou likewise", "With him may'st rise:", "That, as his death calcinиd thee to dust,", "His life may make thee gold, and, much more, just.", "", "Awake, my lute, and struggle for thy part", "With all thy art,", "The cross taught all wood to resound his name", "Who bore the same.", "His stretchиd sinews taught all strings what key", "Is best to celebrate this most high day.", "", "Consort, both heart and lute, and twist a song", "Pleasant and long;", "Or, since all music is but three parts vied", "And multiplied", "Oh let thy blessиd Spirit bear a part,", "And make up our defects with his sweet art." ], "linecount": "18" }, { "title": "Peace", "author": "George Herbert", "lines": [ "Sweet Peace, where dost thou dwell? I humbly crave,", "Let me once know.", "I sought thee in a secret cave,", "And ask'd, if Peace were there,", "A hollow wind did seem to answer, No:", "Go seek elsewhere.", "", "I did; and going did a rainbow note:", "Surely, thought I,", "This is the lace of Peace's coat:", "I will search out the matter.", "But while I looked the clouds immediately", "Did break and scatter.", "", "Then went I to a garden and did spy", "A gallant flower,", "The crown-imperial: Sure, said I,", "Peace at the root must dwell.", "But when I digged, I saw a worm devour", "What showed so well.", "", "At length I met a rev'rend good old man;", "Whom when for Peace", "", "I did demand, he thus began:", "There was a Prince of old", "At Salem dwelt, who lived with good increase", "Of flock and fold.", "", "He sweetly lived; yet sweetness did not save", "His life from foes.", "But after death out of his grave", "There sprang twelve stalks of wheat;", "Which many wond'ring at, got some of those", "To plant and set.", "", "It prospered strangely, and did soon disperse", "Through all the earth:", "For they that taste it do rehearse", "That virtue lies therein;", "A secret virtue, bringing peace and mirth", "By flight of sin.", "", "Take of this grain, which in my garden grows,", "And grows for you;", "Make bread of it: and that repose", "And peace, which ev'ry where", "With so much earnestness you do pursue,", "Is only there." ], "linecount": "42" }, { "title": "Nature", "author": "George Herbert", "lines": [ "Full of rebellion, I would die,", "Or fight, or travel, or deny", "That thou has aught to do with me.", "O tame my heart;", "It is thy highest art", "To captivate strong holds to thee.", "", "If thou shalt let this venom lurk,", "And in suggestions fume and work,", "My soul will turn to bubbles straight,", "And thence by kind", "Vanish into a wind,", "Making thy workmanship deceit.", "", "O smooth my rugged heart, and there", "Engrave thy rev'rend law and fear;", "Or make a new one, since the old", "Is sapless grown,", "And a much fitter stone", "To hide my dust, than thee to hold." ], "linecount": "18" }, { "title": "Easter Song", "author": "George Herbert", "lines": [ "I Got me flowers to straw Thy way,", "I got me boughs off many a tree;", "But Thou wast up by break of day,", "And brought’st Thy sweets along with Thee.", "", "The sunne arising in the East,", "Though he give light, and th’ East perfume,", "If they should offer to contest", "With Thy arising, they presume.", "", "Can there be any day but this,", "Though many sunnes to shine endeavour?", "We count three hundred, but we misse:", "There is but one, and that one ever." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "Church Music", "author": "George Herbert", "lines": [ "Sweetest of sweets, I thank you: when displeasure", "Did through my body wound my mind,", "You took me thence, and in your house of pleasure", "A dainty lodging me assigned.", "", "Now I in you without a body move,", "Rising and falling with your wings:", "We both together sweetly live and love,", "Yet say sometimes, \"God help poor Kings\".", "", "Comfort, I'll die; for if you post from me", "Sure I shall do so, and much more:", "But if I travel in your company,", "You know the way to heaven's door." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "Faith", "author": "George Herbert", "lines": [ "Lord, how couldst thou so much appease", "Thy wrath for sin, as when man's sight was dim,", "And could see little, to regard his ease,", "And bring by Faith all things to him?", "", "Hungry I was, and had no meat:", "I did conceit a most delicious feast;", "I had it straight, and did as truly eat,", "As ever did a welcome guest.", "", "There is a rare outlandish root,", "Which when I could not get, I thought it here:", "That apprehension cur'd so well my foot,", "That I can walk to heav'n well near.", "", "I owed thousands and much more.", "I did believe that I did nothing owe,", "And liv'd accordingly; my creditor", "Believes so too, and lets me go.", "", "Faith makes me any thing, or all", "That I believe is in the sacred story:", "And where sin placeth me in Adam's fall,", "Faith sets me higher in his glory.", "", "If I go lower in the book,", "What can be lower than the common manger?", "Faith puts me there with him, who sweetly took", "Our flesh and frailty, death and danger.", "", "If bliss had lien in art or strength,", "None but the wise or strong had gained it:", "Where now by Faith all arms are of a length;", "One size doth all conditions fit.", "", "A peasant may believe as much", "As a great Clerk, and reach the highest stature.", "Thus dost thou make proud knowledge bend and crouch", "While grace fills up uneven nature.", "", "When creatures had no real light", "Inherent in them, thou didst make the sun", "Impute a lustre, and allow them bright;", "And in this show what Christ hath done.", "", "That which before was darkned clean", "With bushy groves, pricking the looker's eye,", "Vanisht away, when Faith did change the scene:", "And then appear'd a glorious sky.", "", "What though my body run to dust?", "Faith cleaves unto it, counting ev'ry grain", "With an exact and most particular trust,", "Reserving all for flesh again." ], "linecount": "44" }, { "title": "The Thanksgiving", "author": "George Herbert", "lines": [ "Oh King of grief! (a title strange, yet true,", "To thee of all kings only due)", "Oh King of wounds! how shall I grieve for thee,", "Who in all grief preventest me?", "Shall I weep blood? why thou has wept such store", "That all thy body was one door.", "Shall I be scourged, flouted, boxed, sold?", "'Tis but to tell the tale is told.", "'My God, my God, why dost thou part from me? '", "Was such a grief as cannot be.", "Shall I then sing, skipping, thy doleful story,", "And side with thy triumphant glory?", "Shall thy strokes be my stroking? thorns, my flower?", "Thy rod, my posy? cross, my bower?", "But how then shall I imitate thee, and", "Copy thy fair, though bloody hand?", "Surely I will revenge me on thy love,", "And try who shall victorious prove.", "If thou dost give me wealth, I will restore", "All back unto thee by the poor.", "If thou dost give me honour, men shall see,", "The honour doth belong to thee.", "I will not marry; or, if she be mine,", "She and her children shall be thine.", "My bosom friend, if he blaspheme thy name,", "I will tear thence his love and fame.", "One half of me being gone, the rest I give", "Unto some Chapel, die or live.", "As for thy passion - But of that anon,", "When with the other I have done.", "For thy predestination I'll contrive,", "That three years hence, if I survive,", "I'll build a spittle, or mend common ways,", "But mend mine own without delays.", "Then I will use the works of thy creation,", "As if I us'd them but for fashion.", "The world and I will quarrel; and the year", "Shall not perceive, that I am here.", "My music shall find thee, and ev'ry string", "Shall have his attribute to sing;", "That all together may accord in thee,", "And prove one God, one harmony.", "If thou shalt give me wit, it shall appear;", "If thou hast giv'n it me, 'tis here.", "Nay, I will read thy book, and never move", "Till I have found therein thy love;", "Thy art of love, which I'll turn back on thee,", "O my dear Saviour, Victory!", "Then for thy passion - I will do for that -", "Alas, my God, I know not what." ], "linecount": "50" } ]