Saved Poem by Lucy Larcom

WHAT is the soul He would save? —
The being, with all its powers;
The root, with its leaves and flowers:
All possible good we can crave
In this God-given life of ours.

From what would He save the soul? —
From contented selfishness,
And from bleak unlovingness;
From the lower aim's control,
From the downward passion's stress.

From the hell of an evil choice,
When our eyes on His Presence close;
From an earth-clogged ear that knows
No tone of His tender voice;
From a void heart's waste of woes.

He saveth thee, soul, for what? —
To be born anew, as a child,
In the clear and open thought;
In the love that envieth not;
The desires all undefiled.

To enrich thee with every gift
That His fatherly thought can plan:
Front belittling sins to lift
Thee up to the angel swift,
And the stature of a man!

He saveth thee, soul, to be
As the cleansing salt and the leaven:
His mind and His will to see;
To be faithful and strong and free
In the truth, which alone is heaven.

Not to wait for the Far-away,
Wrapped in Eden-dreams, — but now
To become a warmth, a ray,
O Christ, of Thy deathless day!
For the Life of our life art Thou!