DEAR Lord, to Thee my knee is bent. -- Give me content -- Full-pleasured with what comes to me, Whate'er it be: An humble roof -- a frugal board, And simple hoard; The wintry fagot piled beside The chimney wide, While the enwreathing flames up-sprout And twine about The brazen dogs that guard my hearth And household worth: Tinge with the embers' ruddy glow The rafters low; And let the sparks snap with delight, As fingers might That mark deft measures of some tune The children croon: Then, with good friends, the rarest few Thou holdest true, Ranged round about the blaze, to share My comfort there, -- Give me to claim the service meet That makes each seat A place of honor, and each guest Loved as the rest. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...JEANIE MORRISON by WILLIAM MOTHERWELL TO MR. WILLIAM BASSE UPON THE NOW PUBLISHING OF HIS POEMS by RALPH BATHURST HINC LACHRIMAE; OR THE AUTHOR TO AURORA: 41 by WILLIAM BOSWORTH WHOM EARTH HAS TAUGHT: HERITAGE by MARGARET PERKINS BRIGGS A SICK-BED by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT THE WATCHER AT THE GATE by SAMUEL HAWKINS MARSHALL BYERS |