A Bruised Reed Shall He Not Break
Christina Georgina Rossetti 1830 (London) – 1894 (London)
I will accept thy will to do and be,
Thy hatred and intolerance of sin,
Thy will at least to love, that burns within
And thirsteth after Me:
So will I render fruitful, blessing still,
The germs and small beginnings in thy heart,
Because thy will cleaves to the better part.—
Alas, I cannot will.
Dost not thou will, poor soul? Yet I receive
The inner unseen longings of the soul,
I guide them turning towards Me; I control
And charm hearts till they grieve:
If thou desire, it yet shall come to pass,
Though thou but wish indeed to choose My love;
For I have power in earth and heaven above.—
I cannot wish, alas!
What, neither choose nor wish to choose? and yet
I still must strive to win thee and constrain:
For thee I hung upon the cross in pain,
How then can I forget?
If thou as yet dost neither love, nor hate,
Nor choose, nor wish,—resign thyself, be still
Till I infuse love, hatred, longing, will.—
I do not deprecate.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 30, 2023
- 54 sec read
- 193 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABBACDDC EFFEGHHG IJJIKCCK |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 922 |
Words | 181 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
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"A Bruised Reed Shall He Not Break" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/5693/a-bruised-reed-shall-he-not-break>.
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