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Poem by George Herbert


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 lookt, 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 rev'rend good old man,
                      Whom when for Peace 
          I did demand; he thus began: 
                There was a Prince of old 
At Salem dwelt, who liv'd with good increase
                      Of flock and fold.

He sweetly liv'd; yet sweetness did not save
                      His life from foes. 
           But after death out of his grave 
                 There sprang twelve stalks of wheat: 
Which many wondring 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 ev'ry where 
With so much earnestness you do pursue,
                       Is only there. 



George Herbert


George Herbert's other poems:
  1. Sighs and Groans
  2. Sin's Round
  3. Affliction
  4. Providence
  5. The Search


Poems of the other poets with the same name:

  • Rupert Brooke Peace ("Now, God Be Thanked Who Has Matched Us With His Hour")
  • William Yeats Peace ("AH, that Time could touch a form")
  • Gerard Hopkins Peace ("When will you ever, Peace, wild wooddove, shy wings shut")
  • Henry Vaughan Peace ("My Soul, there is a country")
  • Eleanor Farjeon Peace ("I am as awful as my brother War")
  • Robert Anderson Peace ("Now, God be prais'd! we've peace at last")
  • Robert Bloomfield Peace ("Halt! ye Legions, sheathe your Steel")
  • Charles Sorley Peace ("There is silence in the evening when the long days cease") December 1912
  • Gerald Massey Peace ("Yes, Peace is beautiful, and I do yearn")
  • Henry Newbolt Peace ("No more to watch by Night's eternal shore")
  • Sara Teasdale Peace ("PEACE flows into me")
  • Henry Van Dyke Peace ("Two dwellings, Peace, are thine")
  • Albery Whitman Peace ("As the raindrop on a flower")

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