Poems (Denver)/Bread cast on the Waters

by Mary Caroline Denver

BREAD CAST ON THE WATERS.

A beggar stood in the sunshine.
 That lighted my cabin-door;
I placed in his hands a pittance,
 'Twas small, but I had no more.
Years after, when want was round me,
 And sorrow had pressed me sore,
There came from a far-off country,
 A rich and bounteous store.
Then I thought of God's blessed promise,
 As I looked on the golden grain;
For the bread I once cast on the waters
 Had returned to me again.

I, stood in the silent midnight,
 Beside the couch of pain;
I calmed the troubled spirit,
 And I soothed the fevered brain.
Years after, when grief and sickness
 A victim in me had found,
Kind hearts bent over my pillow,
 And I knew there were angels around.
Then I thought of God's holy promise,
 As I lay on that conch of pain,
For the bread once cast on the waters
 Had returned to me again.

A tried heart quailed in the battle
 That raged on the shore of life;
I whispered a word of comfort,
 And cheered it amid the strife:
Years after, when grieved and wounded
 By the follies and frauds of earth,
True spirits gathered around me,
 Gladdening my heart and hearth;
And I thought of God's glorious promise,
 That it never is made in vain;
For the bread once cast on the waters
 He returns to us again.