Care for Thy Soul as Thing of Greatest Price

William Byrd 1539 – 1623



Care for thy soul as thing of greatest price,
     Made to the end to taste of power divine,
   Devoid of guilt, abhorring sin and vice,
     Apt by God's grace to virtue to incline.
   Care for it so as by thy retchless train
   It be not brought to taste eternal pain.

    Care for thy corse, but chiefly for soul's sake;
     Cut off excess, sustaining food is best;
   To vanquish pride but comely clothing take;
    Seek after skill, deep ignorance detest.
  Care so, I say, the flesh to feed and clothe
  That thou harm not thy soul and body both.

   Care for the world to do thy body right;
    Rack not thy wit to win thy wicked ways;
  Seek not to oppress the weak by wrongful might;
    To pay thy due do banish all delays.
  Care to dispend according to thy store,
  And in like sort be mindful of the poor.

   Care for thy soul, as for thy chiefest stay;
    Care for thy body for thy soul's avail;
  Care for the world for body's help alway;
    Care yet but so as virtue may prevail.
  Care in such sort that thou be sure of this:
  Care keep thee not from heaven and heavenly bliss.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 23, 2023

1:02 min read
139

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCC DEDEXX FGFGXX XHXHII
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,082
Words 203
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6, 6

William Byrd

William Byrd was an English composer of the Renaissance. He wrote in many of the forms current in England at the time, including various types of sacred and secular polyphony, keyboard (the so-called Virginalist school), and consort music. Although he produced sacred music for Anglican services, sometime during the 1570s he became a Roman Catholic and wrote Catholic sacred music later in his life.  more…

All William Byrd poems | William Byrd Books

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