The Borrowed Axe
John Newton 1725 (Wapping, London) – 1807 (London)
The prophets sons, in time of old,
Though to appearance poor;
Were rich without possessing gold,
And honoured, though obscure.
In peace their daily bread they eat,
By honest labor earned;
While daily at Elisha's feet,
They grace and wisdom learned.
The prophet's presence cheered their toil,
They watched the words he spoke;
Whether they turned the furrowed soil,
Or felled the spreading oak.
Once as they listened to his theme,
Their conference was stopped;
For one beneath the yielding stream,
A borrowed axe had dropped.
Alas! it was not mine, he said,
How shall I make it good?
Elisha heard, and when he prayed,
The iron swam like wood.
If God, in such a small affair,
A miracle performs;
It shows his condescending care
Of poor unworthy worms.
Though kings and nations in his view
Are but as motes and dust;
His eye and ear are fixed on you,
Who in his mercy trust.
Not one concern of ours is small,
If we belong to him;
To teach us this, the Lord of all,
Once made the iron swim.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 55 sec read
- 64 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AXAX BCBC DEDE FGFG XHXH IXIX JKJK LMLM |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 969 |
Words | 182 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
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"The Borrowed Axe" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/23998/the-borrowed-axe>.
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