YET if His Majesty, our sovereign lord, |
|
Should of his own accord |
|
Friendly himself invite, |
|
And say 'I'll be your guest to-morrow night,' |
|
How should we stir ourselves, call and command | |
All hands to work! 'Let no man idle stand! |
|
|
'Set me fine Spanish tables in the hall; |
|
See they be fitted all; |
|
Let there be room to eat |
|
And order taken that there want no meat. | |
See every sconce and candlestick made bright, |
|
That without tapers they may give a light. |
|
|
'Look to the presence: are the carpets spread, |
|
The dazie o'er the head, |
|
The cushions in the chairs, | |
And all the candles lighted on the stairs? |
|
Perfume the chambers, and in any case |
|
Let each man give attendance in his place!' |
|
|
Thus, if a king were coming, would we do; |
|
And 'twere good reason too; | |
For 'tis a duteous thing |
|
To show all honour to an earthly king, |
|
And after all our travail and our cost, |
|
So he be pleased, to think no labour lost. |
|
|
But at the coming of the King of Heaven | |
All 's set at six and seven; |
|
We wallow in our sin, |
|
Christ cannot find a chamber in the inn. |
|
We entertain Him always like a stranger, |
|
And, as at first, still lodge Him in the manger. | | |
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment