 | [Poems by Cary in] The poems of Alice and Phoebe Cary with introduction and notes |  |
438
DRAWING WATER.
I had drunk, with lip unsated,
Where the founts of pleasure burst;
I had hewn out broken cisterns,
And they mocked my spirit's thirst:
Where the founts of pleasure burst;
I had hewn out broken cisterns,
And they mocked my spirit's thirst:
And I said, life is a desert,
Hot, and measureless, and dry;
And God will not give me water,
Though I pray, and faint, and die.
Hot, and measureless, and dry;
And God will not give me water,
Though I pray, and faint, and die.
Spoke there then a friend and brother,
“Rise, and roll the stone away;
There are founts of life upspringing
In thy pathway every day.”
“Rise, and roll the stone away;
There are founts of life upspringing
In thy pathway every day.”
Then I said my heart was sinful,
Very sinful was my speech;
All the wells of God's salvation
Are too deep for me to reach.
Very sinful was my speech;
All the wells of God's salvation
Are too deep for me to reach.
And he answered, “Rise and labor,—
Doubt and idleness is death;
Shape thee out a goodly vessel
With the strong hands of thy faith.”
Doubt and idleness is death;
Shape thee out a goodly vessel
With the strong hands of thy faith.”
So I wrought and shaped the vessel,
Then knelt lowly, humbly there,
And I drew up living water
With the golden chain of prayer.
Then knelt lowly, humbly there,
And I drew up living water
With the golden chain of prayer.
| [Poems by Cary in] The poems of Alice and Phoebe Cary with introduction and notes | |