Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, OUR DAILY BREAD, by LUCY LARCOM


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

OUR DAILY BREAD, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: What is the daily bread
Last Line: O christ, are satisfied!
Subject(s): Bread; Prayer


WHAT is the daily bread,
Father, we ask of Thee, --
We, who must still be fed
Out of Thy bounty free?
Not at the household board
Is our deep want supplied:
Bins may he amply stored,
And souls unsatisfied.
For not by bread alone
Can we, Thy children, live:
Some heavenly food unknown
Thou unto us must give.
We ask not meat to nurse
Ambition's vain desire,
Nor greed of gain, the curse
Of inward cankering fire;
Nor the poor, tasteless husks
That swine have torn and trod
And ground with beastly tusks:
Let clod be given to clod!
Nurtured we all must be
By Thy sweet Word alone:
Asking this bread of Thee,
Thou wilt not give a stone.
Thy Life, O God! Thy Word,
Outspoken through Thy Son!
In Him our prayer is heard,
Our heart's desire is won.
To sacrifice, to share,
To give, even as He gave;
For others' wants to care;
Not our own lives to save;
With love for all around
Our days and hours to fill: --
Thus be it ever found
Our meat to do Thy will!
This is the living bread
Which cometh down from Heaven,
Wherewith our souls are fed;
The pure, immortal leaven.
The hidden manna this,
Whereof who eateth, he
Grows up in perfectness
Of Christ-like symmetry.
Who seeks this bread shall be
Nor stinted, nor denied:
Our hungry souls in Thee,
O Christ, are satisfied!





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