New Zealand Verse/Living Water
CLXIII.
Living Water.
I am a little desert pool, O Lord,
The rains of God descend but rarely here;
And barren sands surround me far and near,
Save where a niggard circle of green sward
Grows, not ungrateful for the moisture poured
In rare and blessed hours of overflow.
And this is all, alas, I have to show—
So wide a waste, so small a precious hoard
Of living water.—Yet thou art my source;
I feel deep in my heart the sacred spring
That sends the mighty rivers on their course.
Let me be faithful to the impulse given,
And though too weak to rise and flowing sing,
Let me reflect the calm and shining heaven.
The rains of God descend but rarely here;
And barren sands surround me far and near,
Save where a niggard circle of green sward
Grows, not ungrateful for the moisture poured
In rare and blessed hours of overflow.
And this is all, alas, I have to show—
So wide a waste, so small a precious hoard
Of living water.—Yet thou art my source;
I feel deep in my heart the sacred spring
That sends the mighty rivers on their course.
Let me be faithful to the impulse given,
And though too weak to rise and flowing sing,
Let me reflect the calm and shining heaven.
Mary E. Richmond