<< >> Up Title Contents

"BANDS OF LOVE"

Ruth i. 16, 17.

          A homeless Stranger amongst us came
               To this land of death and mourning;
          He walked in a path of sorrow and shame,
               Through insult, and hate, and scorning.
          
          A Man of sorrows, of toil and tears,
               An outcast Man and a lonely;
          But He looked on me, and through endless years
               Him must I love--Him only.
          
          Then from this sad and sorrowful land,
               From this land of tears He departed;
          But the light of His eyes and the touch of His hand
               Had left me broken-hearted.
          
          And I clave to Him as He turned His face
               From the land that was mine no longer--
          The land I had loved in the ancient days,
               Ere I knew the love that was stronger.
          
          And I would abide where He abode,
               And follow His steps for ever;
          His people my people, His God my God,
               In the land beyond the river.
          
          And where He died would I also die,
               Far dearer a grave beside Him
          Than a kingly place amongst living men,
               The place which they denied Him.
          
          Then afar and afar did I follow Him on,
               To the land where He was going--
          To the depths of glory beyond the sun,
               Where the golden fields were glowing--
          
          The golden harvest of endless joy,
               The joy He had sown in weeping;
          How can I tell the blest employ,
               The songs of that glorious reaping!
          
          The recompense sweet, the full reward,
               Which the lord His God has given;
          At rest beneath the wings of the Lord,
               At home in the courts of heaven.

P. G.


<< >> Up Title Contents
This document (last modified May 20, 1997) from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library server, at @Wheaton College