Henry Charles Beeching, ed. (1859–1919). Lyra Sacra: A Book of Religious Verse. 1903.
By Richard Chenevix Trench (1807–1886)The Kingdom of God
| I SAY to thee, do thou repeat | |
| To the first man thou mayest meet | |
| In lane, highway, or open street— | |
| That he and we and all men move | |
| Under a canopy of love, | 5 |
| As broad as the blue sky above; | |
| That doubt and trouble, fear and pain | |
| And anguish, all are shadows vain, | |
| That death itself shall not remain; | |
| That dreary deserts we may tread, | 10 |
| A dreary labyrinth may thread, | |
| Through dark ways underground be led; | |
| Yet, if we will one Guide obey, | |
| The dreariest path, the darkest way, | |
| Shall issue out in heavenly day. | 15 |
| And we, on divers shores now cast, | |
| Shall meet, our perilous voyage past. | |
| All in our Father’s house at last. | |
| And ere thou leave him, say thou this | |
| Yet one word more—they only miss | 20 |
| The winning of that final bliss, | |
| Who will not count it true that Love, | |
| Blessing, not cursing, rules above, | |
| And that in it we live and move. | |
| And one thing further make him know, | 25 |
| That to believe these things are so, | |
| This firm faith never to forgo, | |
| Despite of all which seems at strife | |
| With blessings, all with curses rife, | |
| That this is blessing, this is life. | 30 |