| Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907. | | | The Rivulet (1871).
V. “Oft when of God we ask” | | By Thomas Toke Lynch (1818–1871) |
| | | OFT when of God we ask | |
| For fuller, happier life, | |
| He sets us some new task | |
| Involving care and strife: | |
| Is this the boon for which we sought? | 5 |
| Has prayer new trouble on us brought? | |
| |
| This is indeed the boon, | |
| Though strange to us it seems; | |
| We pierce the rock, and soon | |
| The blessing on us streams; | 10 |
| For when we are the most athirst, | |
| Then the clear waters on us burst. | |
| |
| We toil as in a field, | |
| Wherein, to us unknown, | |
| A treasure lies concealed, | 15 |
| Which may be all our own: | |
| And shall we of the toil complain | |
| That speedily will bring such gain? | |
| |
| We dig the wells of life, | |
| And God the waters gives; | 20 |
| We win our way by strife, | |
| Then He within us lives; | |
| And only war could make us meet | |
| For peace so sacred and so sweet. | | | | |
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