George Herbert


AFFLICTION. (III)

MY heart did heave, and there came forth, “O God !”
By that I knew that Thou wast in the grief,
To guide and govern it to my relief,
                Making a sceptre of the rod :
                    Hadst Thou not had Thy part,
Sure the unruly sigh had broke my heart.
But since Thy breath gave me both life and shape,
Thou know'st my tallies ;* and when there’s assigned
So much breath to a sigh, what’s then behind?
          Or if some years with it escape,
              The sigh then only is
A gale to bring me sooner to my bliss.
Thy life on earth was grief, and Thou art still
Constant unto it, making it to be
A point of honour, now to grieve in me,
          And in Thy members suffer ill.
              They who lament one cross,
Thou dying daily, praise Thee to Thy loss.


  * Reckonings, which were anciently kept by two notched sticks
corresponding to each other, each person being a party to the
account of having one.
  There is a popular old superstition that every time we sigh, we
lose a drop of blood from the heart, and thus impair our strength.
See “Hamlet,” Act IV., Scene 7 :

                                                “ A Spendthrift sigh
                  That hurts by easing.”




Source:
Herbert, George. The Works of George Herbert in Prose and Verse.
New York: John Wurtele Lovell, 1881. 158-159.



Backto Works of George Herbert


Site ©1996-2001 Anniina Jokinen. All Rights Reserved.
Created by Anniina Jokinen on June 30, 2001.