Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Asia: Vols. XXI–XXIII. 1876–79. | | | | Syria: Sychar | | The Well of Sychar | | Sir Edward Denny (1796–1889) |
| | | SWEET was the hour, O Lord! to thee, | |
| At Sychar’s lonely well, | |
| When a poor outcast heard thee there | |
| Thy great salvation tell. | |
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| Thither she came; but O, her heart, | 5 |
| All filled with earthly care, | |
| Dreamed not of thee, nor thought to find | |
| The hope of Israel there. | |
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| Lord! ’t was thy power, unseen, that drew | |
| The stray one to that place, | 10 |
| In solitude to learn of thee | |
| The secrets of thy grace. | |
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| There Jacob’s erring daughter found | |
| Those streams, unknown before, | |
| The water-brooks of life, that make | 15 |
| The weary thirst no more. | |
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| And, Lord, to us, as vile as she, | |
| Thy gracious lips have told | |
| That mystery of love, revealed | |
| At Jacob’s well of old. | 20 |
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| In spirit, Lord, we ’ve sat with thee | |
| Beside the springing well | |
| Of life and peace, and heard thee there | |
| Its healing virtues tell. | |
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| Dead to the world, we dream no more | 25 |
| Of earthly pleasures now; | |
| Our deep, divine, unfailing spring | |
| Of grace and glory thou! | |
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| No hope of rest in aught beside, | |
| No beauty, Lord, we see; | 30 |
| And, like Samaria’s daughter, seek | |
| And find our all in thee. | | | | |
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