The Skein We Wind

From the Chnstian Union. I f you and I to-day, Should stop nnd lay Our ft-wk down, and let our hands fall where l-'all dmvn to lie quite still- 'nnd'"16 ther h"nd ShOuld comc' and stno' to The tliread we carrlcd, so that it could wind, Bcginnfug wherc we sloppnl; fr „ .„ij ome lo keep Our life-work poinp on ; seek To carry on the (,'ood design Diftuutivi-lv made yours, or mine, liat would it find? í-.)inc wock w n.ust he cloing, true or fnlse; Soma tlmnils we wind; soine purpose so exalts Itstll tluit m look up to it, or down, As to a crown To bow befare, and we weave threads or .litlcrent lenKths and thickncsscs- somc mere hhreds - And wind them round Tiil all the skein of lile is hound, Soiiielinics forgetting; at the task To ask The valué of the thread, or choose Stront stuff to use. No hand but winds soine thread; It cannot stand quite still lili i is dead But wht it spins and winds a Mttle skein. God tnuilc eacli hand for work- not toil-slain Is required, hut every hand fepins, though but ropes of sand. If love should come, Stoopini; ahove when we are done, To hnd lright threids Tli:it we have held, that lt mav spin them loneer- find but shreds Tliat break when touched, how cold, S .ni, hlvcring, portionless, the hands will hold 'l'he bioken strauds and know l"resh causes for woe.