 | Jones Very : The Complete Poems |  |
Man's Need of a Spiritual Birth
How sayest thou we must be born again,The Jewish teacher to Messias said;
Hast thou a message to the sons of men,
So different from what we have taught, and read?
Yet is it true; another birth we need,
Ere we the kingdom of our God shall see;
The heavenly plant is born of heavenly seed,
Its birth and growth to man a mystery.
The Spirit send, O Lord, and thus renew
Our feeble powers, make pure our hearts within,
As falls the quickening rain, or silent dew,
That we the heavenly life may here begin;
And, while we tread the sorrowing, sinful earth,
Be born of God, and know a higher birth.
Poem No. 200; c. 5 February 1876
| Jones Very : The Complete Poems | |