The Worn-Out Sails
Take down the sails, the worn and ragged sails,
Let them no longer flutter in the breeze,
And bear the gallant vessels to and fro
Over the seas, the blue and smiling seas.
They are so old, and worn, and tattered now,
Their work is done—shall they be cast away
As worthless rubbish, only fit to lie
And moulder in the dust-heaps, to decay?
No; put them to a greater, nobler use,
Give them a better purpose than before,
When the sun shone upon them white and new,
And when from shore to shore the ships they bore.
Wash all their dust, and stains, and spots away,
And fashion from them paper pure and fair,
And then when this thou hast completed, in
The leaves let God’s own blessed word appear.
Let the glad message of the Gospel shine
Upon the unsullied whiteness of each page,
The gentle words our blessèd Saviour spoke,
And the grand thoughts of prophets old and sage.
The worn-out sails, great service they have done,
We will not let them perish and decay,
This, their last work, the greatest and the best,
It shall preserve them in our land for aye.
The stately ships that sail the ocean wide,
Can England guard from foe and hostile band;
But God’s word in the people’s hearts, is still
The secret of the greatness of our land.
E. L. B. (Alice).