Lord, with what care hast thou begirt us round! Parents first season us: then schoolmasters Deliver us to laws; they send us bound To rules of reason, holy messengers, Pulpits and Sundays, sorrow dogging sin, Afflictions sorted, anguish of all sizes, Fine nets and stratagems to catch us in, Bibles laid open, millions of suprises, Blessings beforehand, ties of gratefulness, The sound of glory ringing in our ears: Without, our shame; within, our consciences; Angels and grace, eternal hopes and fears. Yet all these fences and their whole array One cunning bosom-sin blows quite away. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WHEN THE GREAT GRAY SHIPS COME IN [AUGUST 20, 1898] by GUY WETMORE CARRYL THE ROLLING ENGLISH ROAD by GILBERT KEITH CHESTERTON GASCOIGNE'S WOODMANSHIP by GEORGE GASCOIGNE SONNET: 35 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE TRAVEL by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON AN ATHENIAN GARDEN by TRUMBULL STICKNEY BALLADE OF A TRAVELLER'S JINX by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS A SNOWFLAKE by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH TO BARON DE STONNE.....TO FIND HIMSELF BETWEEN by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD |