Devotion Poem by John Bowring

Devotion's hour is swiftly past,
Yet memory keeps its joy enshrined:
And its blest influence long will last,
Like summer-sunshine on the mind.


If seeds are sown-though they appear
Deep buried-they will sprout anew,
And bring a blessed harvest there:
By sunbeams warmed, and fed with dew.


It works unseen, it spreads unknown,
But works and spreads with growing strength;
And towering in its course alone,
'Twill rear its head to heaven at length.


Nor clouds, nor storms, nor damps, nor blight,
Its ever-gathering strength impede;
It rises, like a pile of light,
Or everlasting pyramid.