Lucy Larcom

Our Daily Bread

WHAT is the daily bread,
Father, we ask of Thee, —
We, who must still be fed
Out of Thy bounty free?
Not at the household board
Is our deep want supplied:
Bins may he amply stored,
And souls unsatisfied.
For not by bread alone
Can we, Thy children, live:
Some heavenly food unknown
Thou unto us must give.
We ask not meat to nurse
Ambition's vain desire,
Nor greed of gain, the curse
Of inward cankering fire;
Nor the poor, tasteless husks
That swine have torn and trod
And ground with beastly tusks:
Let clod be given to clod!
Nurtured we all must be
By Thy sweet Word alone:
Asking this bread of Thee,
Thou wilt not give a stone.
Thy Life, O God! Thy Word,
Outspoken through Thy Son!
In Him our prayer is heard,
Our heart's desire is won.
To sacrifice, to share,
To give, even as He gave;
For others' wants to care;
Not our own lives to save;
With love for all around
Our days and hours to fill: —
Thus be it ever found
Our meat to do Thy will!
This is the living bread
Which cometh down from Heaven,
Wherewith our souls are fed;
The pure, immortal leaven.
The hidden manna this,
Whereof who eateth, he
Grows up in perfectness
Of Christ-like symmetry.
Who seeks this bread shall be
Nor stinted, nor denied:
Our hungry souls in Thee,
Christ, are satisfied!