Sepulchre

George Herbert 1593 (Montgomery) – 1633 (Bemerton)



O blessed body!  Whither are thou thrown?
No lodging for thee, but a cold hard stone?
So many hearts on earth, and yet not one
Receive thee?
Sure there is room within our hearts' good store;
For they can lodge transgressions by the score:
Thousands of toys dwell there, yet out of door
They leave thee.
But that which shows them large, shows them unfit.
What ever sin did this pure rock commit,
Which holds thee now?  Who hath indicted it
Of murder?
Where our hard hearts have took up stories to brain thee,
And missing this, most falsely did arraign thee,
And order.
And as of old, the law by heav'nly art
Was writ in stone; so thou, which also art
The letter of the word, find'st no fit heart
To hold thee.
Yet do we still persist as we began,
And so should perish, but that nothing can,
Though it be cold, hard, foul, from loving man
Withold thee.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 08, 2023

49 sec read
145

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABCDDDCEEEFCCFGGGCHHHC
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 848
Words 163
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 23

George Herbert

The Very Reverend Honourable George Herbert was an Anglican priest. more…

All George Herbert poems | George Herbert Books

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