Consider <br />The lilies of the field whose bloom is brief:— <br />We are as they; <br />Like them we fade away, <br />As doth a leaf. <br /> <br /> <br />Consider <br />The sparrows of the air of small account: <br />Our God doth view <br />Whether they fall or mount,— <br />He guards us too. <br /> <br /> <br />Consider <br />The lilies that do neither spin nor toil, <br />Yet are most fair:— <br />What profits all this care <br />And all this coil? <br /> <br /> <br />Consider <br />The birds that have no barn nor harvest-weeks; <br />God gives them food:— <br />Much more our Father seeks <br />To do us good. <br /> <br />Helen Grey <br />Because one loves you, Helen Grey, <br />Is that a reason you should pout, <br />And like a March wind veer about, <br />And frown, and say your shrewish say? <br />Don't strain the cord until it snaps, <br />Don't split the sound heart with your wedge, <br />Don't cut your fingers with the edge <br />Of your keen wit; you may, perhaps. <br /> <br />Because you're handsome, Helen Grey, <br />Is that a reason to be proud? <br />Your eyes are bold, your laugh is loud, <br />Your steps go mincing on their way; <br />But so you miss that modest charm <br />Which is the surest charm of all: <br />Take heed, you yet may trip and fall, <br />And no man care to stretch his arm. <br /> <br />Stoop from your cold height, Helen Grey, <br />Come down, and take a lowlier place; <br />Come down, to fill it now with grace; <br />Come down you must perforce some day: <br />For years cannot be kept at bay, <br />And fading years will make you old; <br />Then in their turn will men seem cold, <br />When you yourself are nipped and grey.<br /><br />Christina Georgina Rossetti<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/consider-8/
