| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907. | | | | To His Ever-loving God | | By Robert Herrick (1591–1674) |
| | | CAN I not come to Thee, my God, for these | |
| So very-many-meeting hindrances, | |
| That slack my pace, but yet not make me stay? | |
| Who slowly goes, rids, in the end, his way. | |
| Clear Thou my paths, or shorten Thou my miles, | 5 |
| Remove the bars, or lift me o’er the stiles; | |
| Since rough the way is, help me when I call, | |
| And take me up; or else prevent the fall. | |
| I ken my home, and it affords some ease | |
| To see far off the smoking villages. | 10 |
| Fain would I rest, yet covet not to die | |
| For fear of future biting penury: | |
| No, no, my God,—Thou know’st my wishes be | |
| To leave this life not loving it, but Thee. | | | | |
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