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Home  »  Poems of Places An Anthology in 31 Volumes  »  They Gave to Thee

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Asia: Vols. XXI–XXIII. 1876–79.

Syria: Bethlehem

They Gave to Thee

By Jeremy Taylor (1613–1667)

(From Upon the Epiphany…)

THEY gave to Thee

Myrrh, frankincense, and gold;

But, Lord, with what shall we

Present ourselves before thy majesty,

Whom thou redeemedst when we were sold?

We ’ve nothing but ourselves, and scarce that neither;

Vile dirt and clay;

Yet it is soft, and may

Impression take.

Accept it, Lord, and say, this thou hadst rather;

Stamp it, and on this sordid metal make

Thy holy image, and it shall outshine

The beauty of the golden mine.