From The Temple, George Herbert

“The Altar”

A broken ALTAR, Lord, thy servant rears,

 Made of a heart, and cemented with tears: 

  Whose  parts  are as thy  hand  did  frame;

  No workman's tool hath touched the same.

A    HEART    alone

Is   such   a   stone,

As    nothing     but

Thy power doth cut.

Wherefore each part

Of   my   hard   heart

Meets  in  this  frame, 

To  praise  thy  Name:

That,  if  I   chance  to   hold  my   peace,

These stones to praise thee may not cease.

Oh  let  thy  blessed  SACRIFICE  be   mine,

And   sanctify   this   ALTAR   to   be   thine.

“The Collar” 

I struck the board¹ and cried, “No more;

I will abroad!

What? Shall I ever sigh and pine?

My lines and life are free, free as the road,

Loose as the wind, as large as store.

Shall I be still in suit? ²

Have I no harvest but a thorn

To let me blood, and not restore

What I have lost with cordial³ fruit?

Sure there was wine

Before my sighs did dry it; there was grain

Before my tears did drown it.

Is the year only lost to me?

Have I no bays⁴ to crown it,

No flowers, no garlands gay? All blasted?

All wasted?

Not so, my heart; but there is fruit,

And thou hast hands.

Recover all thy sigh-blown age

On double pleasures: leave thy cold dispute

Of what is fit and not.  Forsake thy cage,

Thy rope of sands,

Which petty thoughts have made, and made to thee

Good cable,⁵ to enforce and draw,

And be thy law,

While though didst wink and wouldst not see.

Away! Take heed/

I will abroad.

Call in thy death’s-head⁶ there; tie up thy fears.

He that forbears

To suit and serve his need,

Deserves his load.”

Bus as I raved and grew more fierce and wild

At every word,

Methoughts I heard one calling, Child!⁷

And I replied, My Lord.

1. Communion table

2. Always in attendance, waiting on someone for a favor

3. restorative to the heart

4. The poet’s laurel wreath, a symbol of recognized accomplishment

5. Christian restrictions on behavior, which the “petty thoughts” of the docile believer have made into strong bonds

6. Skull, emblem of human mortality, and often used as an object for meditation

7. The call “Child!” reminds the speaker of Paul’s words that Christians are not in “bondage again to fear” but are children of God, “and if children, then heirs.” Romans 8:14-17