Hymn After Fasting
O Christ, of all Thy servants Guide,Mild is the yoke Thou mak'st us bear,Leading us gently by Thy sideWith gracious care.
Thy love took up our life's hard loadAnd spent in grievous toils its might:Thy bond-slaves tread the easier roadLed by Thy light.
Nine hours have run their course away,The sun sped three parts of its race:And what remains of the short dayFadeth apace.
The holy fast hath reached its end;Our table now Thou loadest, Lord:With all Thy gifts true gladness sendTo grace our board.
Such is our Master's gentle sway,So kind the teaching in His school,That all find rest who will obeyHis easy rule.
Thou would'st not have us scorn the graceOf cleanliness and vesture fair:Thou lovest not a soiled faceAnd unkempt hair.
Let him that fasts, Thou saidst, be clean,Nor lose health's fair and ruddy glow:Let no wan sallowness be seenUpon his brow.
'Tis better in glad modestyOf our good works to shun display:God sees what 'scapes our neighbour's eyeAnd will repay.
That Shepherd keen seeks one lost sheepSickly and weak, strayed from the fold,Fleece torn with briers of thickets deep,Foolishly bold.
He drives the wolves far from the track:And found He brings on shoulders borneTo sunlit pen the wanderer back,No more forlorn:
Yea, to the meads and grassy fieldsThe lamb restores, where no thorn balks,No rough burrs tear, no thistle yieldsIts bristling stalks:
But leaves of green herbs brightly glanceAnd in the grove the palm-trees dream,And laurels shade the eddying danceOf crystal stream.
For all these gifts, O Shepherd dear,What service can I render Thee?No grateful vows my debt shall clearFor love so free.
Though by self-chosen fasts severeOur strength of limb we waste away:Though, spurning food, we Thee revereBy night and day:
Yet our works never can o'ertakeThy love or with Thy gifts compare:Our toils this earthen vessel break,The more we dare.
Therefore lest failing powers consumeOur fragile life and shrivelled veinsPale 'neath the tyranny of rheumAnd weakening pains:
Thou dost not rule perpetual LentFor man, nor modest fare deny:Fearless may each unto his bentHis wants supply.
Enough that all our acts by prayerBe sanctified unto Thy will,Whether we fast, or with due careOur needs fulfil.
Then shall God bless us for our goodAnd lead us to our soul's true wealth;For, if but consecrated, foodShall bring us health.
O Lord, grant that our feast may spreadMarrow and strength throughout our flesh:And may all Christly souls be fedWith vigour fresh.
Words in this poem
- apace adv.
- With a quick pace; quick; fast; speedily. [Pref. a- + pace. OE. a pas at a walk, in which a is the article. See Pace.]
- cleanliness n.
- State of being cleanly; neatness of person or dress. [From Cleanly.]
- unkempt a.
- Not combed; disheveled; as, an urchin with unkempt hair. [Pref. un- not + kempt, p. p. of kemb.]
- sallowness n.
- The quality or condition of being sallow.
- sunlit a.
- Lighted by the sun.
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- revere v. t.
- To regard with reverence, or profound respect and affection, mingled with awe or fear; to venerate; to reverence; to honor in estimation. [L. revereri; pref. re- re- + vereri to fear, perh. akin to E. wary: cf. F. révérer.]
- sanctified a.
- Made holy; also, made to have the air of sanctity; sanctimonious.
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- christly a.
- Christlike. H. Bushnell.
- vigour v. t.
- To invigorate. Feltham.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Hymn After Fasting is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Hymns of Prudentius, Project Gutenberg ebook #14959; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Prudentius, Hymn After Fasting, in The Hymns of Prudentius (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #14959, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/prudentius-hymns/hymn-after-fasting.html, id L23681.
Form and metre
Hymn After Fasting is 80 lines in 20 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 15 of its 20 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABAB guideA · bearB · sideA · careB
- 2 ABAB loadA · mightB · roadA · lightB
- 3 ABAB awayA · raceB · dayA · apaceB
- 4 ABAB endA · lordB · sendA · boardB
- 5 ABAB swayA · schoolB · obeyA · ruleB
- 6 ABAB graceA · fairB · faceA · hairB
- 7 A-A- cleanA · glow · seenA · brow
- 8 -A-A modesty · displayA · eye · repayA
- 9 ABAB sheepA · foldB · deepA · boldB
- 10 ABAB trackA · borneB · backA · forlornB
- 11 ABAB fieldsA · balksB · yieldsA · stalksB
- 12 ABAB glanceA · dreamB · danceA · streamB
- 13 ABAB dearA · theeB · clearA · freeB
- 14 ABAB severeA · awayB · revereA · dayB
- 15 ABAB o'ertakeA · compareB · breakA · dareB
- 16 -A-A consume · veinsA · rheum · painsA
- 17 ABAB lentA · denyB · bentA · supplyB
- 18 A-A- prayerA · will · careA · fulfil
- 19 -A-A good · wealthA · food · healthA
- 20 ABAB spreadA · fleshB · fedA · freshB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| O Christ, of all Thy servants Guide, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Mild is the yoke Thou mak'st us bear, | 8 | ········ |
| Leading us gently by Thy side | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| With gracious care. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Thy love took up our life's hard load | 8 | ····/··· |
| And spent in grievous toils its might: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Thy bond-slaves tread the easier road | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Led by Thy light. | 4 | ···· |
| Nine hours have run their course away, | 8 | ·/····˘/ |
| The sun sped three parts of its race: | 8 | ········ |
| And what remains of the short day | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Fadeth apace. | 4 | ··˘/ |
| The holy fast hath reached its end; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Our table now Thou loadest, Lord: | 8 | //˘··/˘· |
| With all Thy gifts true gladness send | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To grace our board. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Such is our Master's gentle sway, | 8 | ··//˘/˘· |
| So kind the teaching in His school, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That all find rest who will obey | 8 | ······˘/ |
| His easy rule. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Thou would'st not have us scorn the grace | 8 | ········ |
| Of cleanliness and vesture fair: | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| Thou lovest not a soiled face | 8 | ······˘· |
| And unkempt hair. | 4 | ·˘/· |
| Let him that fasts, Thou saidst, be clean, | 8 | ········ |
| Nor lose health's fair and ruddy glow: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Let no wan sallowness be seen | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Upon his brow. | 4 | ···· |
| 'Tis better in glad modesty | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Of our good works to shun display: | 8 | ·/····˘/ |
| God sees what 'scapes our neighbour's eye | 8 | ····//˘· |
| And will repay. | 4 | ··˘/ |
| That Shepherd keen seeks one lost sheep | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Sickly and weak, strayed from the fold, | 8 | /˘······ |
| Fleece torn with briers of thickets deep, | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| Foolishly bold. | 4 | /˘˘· |
| He drives the wolves far from the track: | 8 | ········ |
| And found He brings on shoulders borne | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To sunlit pen the wanderer back, | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| No more forlorn: | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Yea, to the meads and grassy fields | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The lamb restores, where no thorn balks, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| No rough burrs tear, no thistle yields | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Its bristling stalks: | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| But leaves of green herbs brightly glance | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And in the grove the palm-trees dream, | 8 | ········ |
| And laurels shade the eddying dance | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Of crystal stream. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| For all these gifts, O Shepherd dear, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| What service can I render Thee? | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| No grateful vows my debt shall clear | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| For love so free. | 4 | ···· |
| Though by self-chosen fasts severe | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Our strength of limb we waste away: | 8 | /·····˘/ |
| Though, spurning food, we Thee revere | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| By night and day: | 4 | ···· |
| Yet our works never can o'ertake | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| Thy love or with Thy gifts compare: | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Our toils this earthen vessel break, | 8 | /··/˘/˘· |
| The more we dare. | 4 | ···· |
| Therefore lest failing powers consume | 8 | ···/˘/˘/ |
| Our fragile life and shrivelled veins | 8 | //˘··/˘· |
| Pale 'neath the tyranny of rheum | 9 | ···/˘˘·/˘ |
| And weakening pains: | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| Thou dost not rule perpetual Lent | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| For man, nor modest fare deny: | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Fearless may each unto his bent | 8 | /˘······ |
| His wants supply. | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Enough that all our acts by prayer | 8 | ˘/··/··· |
| Be sanctified unto Thy will, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Whether we fast, or with due care | 8 | ········ |
| Our needs fulfil. | 5 | /˘··· |
| Then shall God bless us for our good | 8 | ······/· |
| And lead us to our soul's true wealth; | 8 | ····/··· |
| For, if but consecrated, food | 8 | ···/˘·˘· |
| Shall bring us health. | 4 | ···· |
| O Lord, grant that our feast may spread | 8 | ····/··· |
| Marrow and strength throughout our flesh: | 8 | /˘····/· |
| And may all Christly souls be fed | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With vigour fresh. | 4 | ·/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.