 | "Until the Day Break," |  |
223
MY HOLYDAY.
THE HYMN OF A CHRISTIAN WORKER.
Stay, stay behind me here, my busy thoughts,
While I go yonder for a little while.
Nay, do not follow me; let me forget
My city stir, and fret, and heat, and toil.
While I go yonder for a little while.
Nay, do not follow me; let me forget
My city stir, and fret, and heat, and toil.
Tarry behind me; vex me, touch me not,
Ye endless aches of heart, and brow, and brain;
Vanish like mist, each scene that would recall
My vision to the crowd and street again.
Ye endless aches of heart, and brow, and brain;
Vanish like mist, each scene that would recall
My vision to the crowd and street again.
224
Pursue me not; but let me calmly go
To the retirement which the Master sought,
Set free from all that would encumber me,
Or mar the oneness of the heavenly thought.
To the retirement which the Master sought,
Set free from all that would encumber me,
Or mar the oneness of the heavenly thought.
The stillness of the closet's stillest hush,
The lonely silence of the lonely wood,
The stream, the sea, the cliff, the dusky moor
Shall furnish me with fruitful solitude.
The lonely silence of the lonely wood,
The stream, the sea, the cliff, the dusky moor
Shall furnish me with fruitful solitude.
Tarry behind me for a season, then,
Beloved workers for the Master here;
I go that I may find in gentle rest
New fitness for the work so grand and dear.
Beloved workers for the Master here;
I go that I may find in gentle rest
New fitness for the work so grand and dear.
Tarry behind, leave me, dear friends, alone,
Companions of my days and nights of toil;
I shall return to you refreshed for work:
Leave me alone with God, alone awhile.
Companions of my days and nights of toil;
I shall return to you refreshed for work:
Leave me alone with God, alone awhile.
225
I would return to work with you on earth,
The health of my whole man revived, restored,
Again to labour with you side by side,
In the one vineyard of our common Lord.
The health of my whole man revived, restored,
Again to labour with you side by side,
In the one vineyard of our common Lord.
From my calm weeks of solitude and prayer,
Of converse with the High and Holy One,
Whose work with these poor hands we seek to do,
I would return to you a holier man.
Of converse with the High and Holy One,
Whose work with these poor hands we seek to do,
I would return to you a holier man.
Help me, my comrades on the harvest-field;
Help me, companions in the holy war;
That in the eternal firmament I may
Shine with the brightness of no common star.
Help me, companions in the holy war;
That in the eternal firmament I may
Shine with the brightness of no common star.
Greystonelees, Berwickshire,
August 23rd, 1882.
| "Until the Day Break," | |