Poems with Power to Strengthen the Soul Part 33

--John Henry Newman.

All service ranks the same with G.o.d; If now, as formerly He trod Paradise, His presence fills Our earth, each only as G.o.d wills Can work--G.o.d's puppets, best and worst, Are we; there is no last nor first.

Say not "a small event!" Why "small"?

Costs it more pain that this, ye call A "great event," should come to pa.s.s Than that? Untwine me, from the ma.s.s Of deeds which make up life, one deed Power shall fall short in, or exceed.

--Robert Browning.

What will it matter in a little while That for a day We met and gave a word, a touch, a smile, Upon the way?

These trifles! Can they make or mar Human life?

Are souls as lightly swayed as rushes are By love or strife?

Yea, yea, a look the fainting heart may break, Or make it whole, And just one word, if said for love's sweet sake, May save a soul.

Get leave to work In this world--'tis the best you get at all; For G.o.d in cursing gives us better gifts Than men in benediction. G.o.d says, "Sweat For foreheads;" men say "crowns;" and so we are crowned-- Ay, gashed by some tormenting circle of steel Which snaps with a secret spring. Get work; get work; Be sure 'tis better than what you work to get.

--Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Be useful where thou livest, that they may Both want and wish thy pleasing presence still; Kindness, good parts, great places, are the way To compa.s.s this. Find out men's wants and will, And meet them there. All worldly joys go less To the one joy of doing kindnesses.

--George Herbert.

When He who, sad and weary, longing sore For love's sweet service sought the sisters' door, One saw the heavenly, one the human guest; But who shall say which loved the Master best?

--John Greenleaf Whittier.

Oft, when the Word is on me to deliver, Opens the heaven, and the Lord is there.

Then with a rush the intolerable craving Shivers throughout me like a trumpet call-- Oh to save these! to perish for their saving, Die for their life, be offered for them all!

No man is born into the world whose work Is not born with him; there is always work, And tools to work withal, for those who will; And blessed are the h.o.r.n.y hands of toil!

--James Russell Lowell.

The Holy Supper is kept, indeed, In whatso we share with another's need; Not what we give, but what we share, For the gift without the giver is bare; Who gives himself with his alms feeds three: Himself, his hungering neighbor, and Me.

--James Russell Lowell.

Look not beyond the stars for heaven, Nor 'neath the sea for h.e.l.l; Know thou, who leads a useful life In Paradise doth dwell.

--Hafiz, tr. by Frederic Rowland Marvin.

Small service is true service while it lasts: Of humblest friends, bright creature, scorn not one; The daisy, by the shadow that it casts, Protects the lingering dewdrop from the sun.

--William Wordsworth.

Mechanic soul, thou must not only do With Martha, but with Mary ponder too; Happy's the home where these fair sisters vary; But most, when Martha's reconciled to Mary.

--Francis Quarles.

If thou hast the gift of strength, then know Thy part is to uplift the trodden low; Else, in the giant's grasp, until the end A hopeless wrestler shall thy soul contend.

--George Meredith.

The best men doing their best Know, peradventure, least of what they do.

Men usefullest i' the world are simply used.

--Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

New words to speak, new thoughts to hear, New love to give and take; Perchance new burdens I may bear To-day for love's sweet sake.

He doth good work whose heart can find The spirit 'neath the letter; Who makes his kind of happier mind, Leaves wiser men and better.

Work for some good, be it ever so slowly, Cherish some flower, be it ever so lowly, Labor--all labor is n.o.ble and holy.

--Frances Sargent Osgood.

In silence mend what ills deform the mind; But all thy good impart to all thy kind.

--John Sterling.

G.o.d gave me something very sweet to be mine own this day: A precious opportunity a word for Christ to say.

That best portion of a good man's life-- His little, nameless, unremembered acts Of kindness and of love.

--William Wordsworth.

Wouldst thou go forth to bless, be sure of thine own ground, Fix well thy center first, then draw thy circle round.