This is the gospel of labour, ring it, ye bells of the kirk! The Lord of Love came down from above, to live with the men who work. This is the rose that He planted, here in the thorn-curst soil: Heaven is blest with perfect rest, but the blessing of Earth is toil.
ATTRIBUTION:
Henry Van Dyke (1852–1933), U.S. poet. The Toiling of Felix (l. 1–4).
BLPA. Best Loved Poems of the American People, The. Hazel Felleman, ed. (1936) Doubleday & Company.
