He Shall Drink by the Brook in the Way

Yesterday morning, I found great refreshment from this poem by Susan Coolidge.  It was in an old 19th Century volume in my collection,  Guests of the Heart, by Adam Craig:

The way is hot, the way is long,

'Tis weary hours to even-song,

And we must travel though we tire;

But all the time beside the road

Trickle the small rills of God,

At hand for our desire.

Quick mercies, small amenities,

Brief moments of repose and ease,

We stoop, and drink, and so fare on,

Unpausing, but re-nerved in strength

From hour to hour, until at length,

Night falleth, and the day is done.

The birds sip of the wayside rill,

And raise their heads in praises, still

Upborne upon their flashing wings:

So drinking thus along the way,

Our little meed of thanks we pay

To Him who fills the water spring.

And deals with equal tenderness

The larger mercies and the less:

"O Lord, of good the fountain free,

Close by our hard day's journeying

Be thou the all-sufficient spring,

And hourly let us drink of thee.