Two Scoops of Herbert

Another Eucharistic poem by George Herbert....

 

The Invitation

COME ye hither, all whose taste
                        Is your waste;
Save your cost, and mend your fare.
God is here prepared and dressed,
                        And the feast,
God, in whom all dainties are.

Come ye hither, all whom wine
                            Doth define,
Naming that you not to your good:
Weep what ye have drunk amiss,
                            And drink this,
Which before ye drink is blood.

Come ye hither, all whom pain
                            Doth arraign,
Bringing all your sins to sight:
Taste and fear not: God is here
                            In this cheer,
And on sin doth cast the fright.

Come ye hither, all whom joy
                            Doth destroy,
While ye graze without your bounds:
Here is joy that drowneth quite
                            Your delight,
As a flood the lower grounds.

Come ye hither, all whose love
                            Is your dove,
And exalts you to the sky:
Here is love, which, having breath
                            E'en in death,
After death can never die.

Lord, I have invited all,
                            And I shall
Still invite, still call to Thee:
For it seems but just and right
                            In my sight,
Where is all, there all should be.