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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


GRACE BEFORE MEAT (AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED TO CHARLES LAMB) by ANNIE MATHESON

First Line: NOT THAT THE LIFE ITSELF IS LESS THAN MEAT
Last Line: IF BROKEN, PLEDGED IN LOVE'S ETERNAL GRACE.
Subject(s): GRACE;

NOT that the life itself is less than meat,
Not that we give more thanks for being fed
Than for the thoughts, the love, of quick and dead,
Or all the gifts of art, do we repeat
The sacred Name of Love before we eat;
But that the Master taught, in breaking bread
The grace of common brotherhood is said,
One heart in Love we are, though millions beat;
One body, quickened by one living soul,
Through every changing age and clime and race,
By death regenerate, while æons roll
And light immortal lights the mortal face;
One vital loaf, love leavening the whole,
If broken, pledged in Love's eternal grace.



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