The Search for Peace
Sweet Peace, where dost thou dwell? I humbly crave,
Let me once know.
I sought thee in a secret cave,
And ask’d, if Peace were there?
A hollow wind did seem to answer, “No:—
Go seek elsewhere.”
I did; and going did a rainbow note:
Surely, thought I,
This is the lace of Peace’s coat:
I will search out the matter.
But while I look’d, the clouds immediately
Did break and scatter.
Then went I to a garden, and did spy
A gallant flower,
The Crown Imperial: Sure, said I,
Peace at the root must dwell.
But when I digg’d, I saw a worm devour
What show’d so well.
At length I met a reverend good old man:
Whom when for Peace
I did demand, he thus began:
“There was a Prince of old
At Salem dwelt, who lived with good increase
Of flock and fold.
“He sweetly lived; yet sweetness did not save
His life from foes.
But after death, out of his grave
There sprang twelve stalks of wheat:
Which many wondering at, got some of those
To plant and set.
“It prosper’d strangely, and did soon disperse
Through all the earth:
For they that taste it do rehearse,
That virtue lies therein;
A secret virtue, bringing peace and mirth
By flight of sin.
“Take of this grain, which in my garden grows,
And grows for you;
Make bread of it:—and that repose
And peace, which everywhere
With so much earnestness you do pursue,
Is only there.”
—G. Herbert