Page:Poems Shipton.djvu/113

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For the rain of heaven descendeth
 When the sunbeams pass away.
Sow when the tempest lowers;
 For calmer days will break,
And the seed, in darkness nourished,
 A goodly plant will make.
Sow when the morning breaketh
 In beauty o'er the land;
And, when the evening falleth,
 Withhold not thou thine hand.

Sow, though the rock repel thee,
 In its cold and sterile pride,
Some cleft may there be riven,
 Where the little seed may hide.
Fear not; for some will flourish;
 And though the tares abound,
Like the willows by the waters
 Will the scattered grain be found.
Work while the daylight lasteth,
 Ere the shades of night come on;
Ere the Lord of the vineyard cometh,
 And the laborer's work is done.

Work in the wild waste places,
 Though none thy love may own;
God marks the down of the thistle
 The wandering wind hath sown.