A statelier queen
Has never been seen,
A lovelier never will be!--
Nay, Solomon, dressed
In his kingliest best,
Was never a match for thee,
O beautiful flower,
O joy of an hour--
_And only an hour_--for me!
An hour, did I say?
Nay, loveliest, nay,
Not thus shall I part with thee,
But with subtle skill
I shall keep thee still,
Fadeless and fresh with me:--
Through toil and duty,
"A thing of beauty
Forever" my own to be'
As with drooping head
Amid thorns I tread,
I shall see thee unfold anew,
In the desert's dust,
Where journey I must,
Why beautiful form shall view,
And visions of Home
O'er my spirit will come,
As thro' tear-drops I gaze on you'
LIVING AND DYING.
Living for Christ, I die;--how strange, that I,
Thus dying, live,--and yet, thus living, die!
Living for Christ, I die;-yet wondrous thought,
In that same death a deathless life is wrought;--
Living, I die to Earth, to self, to sin;--
Oh, blessed death, in which such life I win!
Dying for Christ, I live!--death cannot be
A terror, then, to one from death set free'
Living for Christ, rich blessings I attain,
Yet, dying for Him, mine is greater gain
Life for my Lord, is death to sin and strife,
Yet death for Him is everlas'ing life!
Dying for Christ, I live!--and yet, not I,
But He lives in me, who did for me die.
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