(Macmillan's Magazine, Jan. 1866.)
Consider
The lilies of the field whose bloom is brief: -
We are as they;
Like them we fade away,
As doth a leaf.
Consider
The sparrows of the air of small account:
Our God doth view
Whether they fall or mount, -
He guards us too.
Consider
The lilies that do neither spin nor toil,
Yet are most fair: -
What profits all this care
And all this coil?
Consider
The birds that have no barn nor harvest-weeks;
God gives them food: -
Much more our Father seeks
To do us good.