English poem
VIRTUE. Altered from Herbert
by John Wesley (1703–1791)
Sweet Day, so cool, so calm, so bright, The Bridal of the Earth and Sky: The Dew shall weep thy Fall to Night, For Thou with all thy Sweets must die!
Sweet Rose, so fragrant and so brave, Dazling the rash Beholder's Eye: Thy Root is ever in its Grave, And Thou with all thy Sweets must die!
Sweet Spring, so beauteous and so gay, Storehouse, where Sweets unnumber'd lie: Not long thy fading Glories stay, But Thou with all thy Sweets must die!
Only a Sweet and Virtuous Mind, When Nature all in Ruins lies, When Earth and Heav'n a Period find, Begins a Life that never dies!
More by John Wesley
- TRUE PRAISE. From the same
- TRUST in PROVIDENCE. From the German
- Upon list'ning to the Vibrations of a Clock
- VANITY. From Herbert
- Wait for the Promise of the Father, which ye have heard of me
- Where has my slumb'ring Spirit been
- Written in the Beginning of a Recovery from Sickness
- Ye Nations, who the Globe divide