Page:Poems Shipton.djvu/52

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THE PRAYER VESSEL.

1 Peter ii. 5.

"He that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents."—Matt. xxv. 16.

Of God's divinest blessings,
 O child, thou art the steward.
Send forth thy prayer-girt vessel,
 By faith's strong hand secured;
Chartered by Christ's own promise,
 Thy frail bark ne'er shall fail,
And if becalmed it tarry,
 Thy breath may swell the sail.

Bear thou thy brother's burden;
 The tear by pity stirred
Begets the sigh for succor,
 The cheering wayside word.
Fast are the seasons passing;
 Each garnered grain may be
Seen in the Land of Glory,
 In some celestial tree.

If the red gold thou hast not,
 Nor precious things of earth,
Thou hast unfailing riches
 Where gold is nothing worth;