[JOY OF MY LIFE WHILE LEFT ME
HERE!]
by Henry Vaughan


Joy of my life while left me here !
             And still my Love !
How in thy absence thou dost steer
             Me from above !
             A life well led
             This truth commends,
             With quick or dead
             It never ends.

2.

Stars are of mighty use ; the night
             Is dark, and long ;
The road foul ; and where one goes right,
             Six may go wrong.
             One twinkling ray,
             Shot o'er some cloud,
             May clear much way,
             And guide a crowd.

3.

God's saints are shining lights : who stays
             Here long must pass
O'er dark hills, swift streams, and steep ways
             As smooth as glass ;
             But these all night,
             Like candles, shed
             Their beams, and light
             Us into bed.

4.

They are—indeed—our pillar fires,
             Seen as we go ;
They are that City's shining spires
             We travel to :
             A swordlike gleam
             Kept man for sin
             First out ;  this beam
             Will guide him in.


Source:
Vaughan, Henry. The Poems of Henry Vaughan, Silurist. vol I.
E. K. Chambers, Ed. London, Lawrence & Bullen Ltd., 1896. 67-68.
Backto Works of Henry Vaughan


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