Henry Septimus Sutton (1825-1901). Rose's Diary (1850). "How beautiful our lives may be!" Alfred H. Miles, ed. 1907. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century

Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.

Rose’s Diary (1850).
“How beautiful our lives may be!”

By Henry Septimus Sutton (1825–1901)


XXIII. JULY. HOW beautiful our lives may be, how bright
In privilege, how fruitful of delight!
For we of love have endless revenue;
And, if we grieve, ’tis not as infants do
That wake and find no mother in the night.	5

They put their little hands about, and weep
Because they find mere air, or but the bed
Whereon they lie; but we may rest, instead,
For ever on His bosom, Who doth keep
Our lives alike safe, when we wake, and sleep.	10

And lo! all round us gleam the angelic bands,
Swift messengers of Providence all-wise,
With frowning brows, perhaps, for their disguise,
But with what springs of love within the eyes,
And what strong rescue hidden in the hands!	15

And our lives may in glory move along,
First, holy-white, and then with goodness fair
For our dear Lord to see;—the keenest thong
Of all that whips us, welcome: and the air
Our spirits breathe, self-shaped into a song.	20