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Home  »  The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century  »  Thomas Toke Lynch (1818–1871)

Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.

By The Rivulet (1871). V. “Oft when of God we ask”

Thomas Toke Lynch (1818–1871)

OFT when of God we ask

For fuller, happier life,

He sets us some new task

Involving care and strife:

Is this the boon for which we sought?

Has prayer new trouble on us brought?

This is indeed the boon,

Though strange to us it seems;

We pierce the rock, and soon

The blessing on us streams;

For when we are the most athirst,

Then the clear waters on us burst.

We toil as in a field,

Wherein, to us unknown,

A treasure lies concealed,

Which may be all our own:

And shall we of the toil complain

That speedily will bring such gain?

We dig the wells of life,

And God the waters gives;

We win our way by strife,

Then He within us lives;

And only war could make us meet

For peace so sacred and so sweet.