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! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE PLEASED CAPTIVE; A SONG by PHILIP AYRES A WINTER DAY by ALBERT LINDLEY BEANE THE TREE OF LIFE by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES WERE IT ONLY NOW by A. W. BELL THE LAND OF THE GIANTS by WILLIAM ROSE BENET |