So as part of my journey to self-education, I adore reading and copying poetry. Having begun a study on the 17th century (simply because other than some American history, I don't know that much about it), I came across the Puritan writer Anne Bradford and her poem "By Night When Others Soundly Slept". I have copied it here for your enjoyment.
By night when others soundly slept
And hath at once both ease and Rest,
My waking eyes were open kept
And so to lie I found it best.
I sought him whom my Soul did Love,
With tears I sought him earnestly.
He bow'd his ear down from Above.
In vain I did not seek or cry.
My hungry Soul he fill'd with Good;
He in his Bottle put my tears,
My smarting wounds washt in his blood,
And banisht thence my Doubts and fears.
What to my Saviour shall I give
Who freely hath done this for me?
I'll serve him here whilst I shall live
And Love him to Eternity.
Being of the type to stay up at night and pour out my heart to God, I felt a decided kinship with this poem. I'm now headed off to copy it into my poetry journal. Poems do not have the same effect unless they are copied out by hand!
