A perpetual memory and other poems: By Henry Newbolt: With brief memoirs by Walter de la Mare and Ralph Furse and a portrait by Sir William Rothenstein |
 | I. |
The First Lesson
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| II. |
 | A perpetual memory |  |
8
The First Lesson
He that liveth for ever created all things,
He only is righteous and there is none but he
Who governeth the world with the palm of his hand.
All things obey his will, for he is King of all.
Yea, it is he that made us and not we ourselves,
We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
He only is righteous and there is none but he
Who governeth the world with the palm of his hand.
All things obey his will, for he is King of all.
Yea, it is he that made us and not we ourselves,
We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
“Tell me then what is Man, and whereto serveth he?
Tell me what is his good, and what is his evil?
A man's days at the most are but a hundred years,
And as a drop of water is unto the sea,
Or as a single grit compared unto all sand
So are a thousand years to the eternal day.”
Tell me what is his good, and what is his evil?
A man's days at the most are but a hundred years,
And as a drop of water is unto the sea,
Or as a single grit compared unto all sand
So are a thousand years to the eternal day.”
Therefore hath God poured forth his mercy upon us,
He saw our end and multiplied his compassion.
For the mercy of Man is unto his neighbour,
But the mercy of the Lord is upon us all,
Whom he reproveth and nurtureth and teacheth,
And bringeth us again, as a shepherd his flock.
He saw our end and multiplied his compassion.
For the mercy of Man is unto his neighbour,
But the mercy of the Lord is upon us all,
Whom he reproveth and nurtureth and teacheth,
And bringeth us again, as a shepherd his flock.
Yea it is he that hath made us and not we ourselves,
We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
| A perpetual memory | |