A Thanksgiving To God For His House

Lord, Thou hast given me a cell
    Wherein to dwell;
A little house, whose humble roof
    Is weather-proof;
Under the spars of which I lie
    Both soft and dry;
Where Thou my chamber for to ward
    Hast set a guard
Of harmless thoughts, to watch and keep
    Me, while I sleep.
Low is my porch, as is my fate,
    Both void of state;
And yet the threshold of my door
    Is worn by th’ poor,
Who thither come, and freely get
    Good words or meat;
Like as my parlour, so my hall
    And kitchen’s small;
A little buttery, and therein
    A little bin
Which keeps my little loaf of bread
    Unclipt, unflead.
Some brittle sticks of thorn or briar
    Make me a fire,
Close by whose living coal I sit,
    And glow like it.
Lord, I confess, too, when I dine,
    The pulse is Thine,
And all those other bits, that be
    There placed by Thee;
The worts, the purslain, and the mess
    Of water-cress,
Which of Thy kindness Thou hast sent;
    And my content
Makes those, and my beloved beet,
    To be more sweet.
’Tis Thou that crown’st my glittering hearth
    With guiltless mirth;
And giv’st me wassail bowls to drink,
    Spiced to the brink.
Lord, ’tis Thy plenty-dropping hand,
    That soils my land;
And giv’st me for my bushel sown,
    Twice ten for one.
Thou mak’st my teeming hen to lay
    Her egg each day;
Besides my healthful ewes to bear
    Me twins each year,
The while the conduits of my kine
    Run cream for wine.
All these, and better Thou dost send
    Me, to this end,
That I should render, for my part,
    A thankful heart;
Which, fired with incense, I resign,
    As wholly Thine;
But the acceptance, that must be,
    My Christ, by Thee.
A Thanksgiving To God For His House

by Robert Herrick, 1647
