EASTER WINGS

LORD, WHO CREATEDST MAN IN WEALTH AND STORE,
     THOUGH FOOLISHLY HE LOST THE SAME,
          DECAYING MORE AND MORE,
               TILL HE BECAME
                    MOST POOR :

                    WITH THEE
               OH LET ME RISE
          AS LARKS, HARMONIOUSLY,
     AND SING THIS DAY THY VICTORIES:
THEN SHALL THE FALL FURTHER THE FLIGHT IN ME.

MY TENDER AGE IN SORROW DID BEGIN:
     AND STILL WITH SICKNESSES AND SHAME
          THOU DID'ST SO PUNISH SIN,
               THAT I BECAME
                    MOST THIN.

                    WITH THEE
               LET ME COMBINE,
          AND FEEL THIS DAY THY VICTORY,
     FOR, IF I IMP MY WING ON THINE,
AFFLICTION SHALL ADVANCE THE FLIGHT IN ME.

by George Herbert 1593-1633
source: The Poetical Works Of George Herbert, ed. George Gilfillan. Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1853

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