The Holdfast

Poetry Month!

Lovely poem by George Herbert

The Holdfast
George Herbert

I threatened to observe the strict decree
             Of my deare God with all my power & might.
             But I was told by one, it could not be;
Yet I might trust in God to be my light.

Then will I trust, said I, in him alone.
             Nay, ev’n to trust in him, was also his:
             We must confesse that nothing is our own.
Then I confesse that he my succour is:

But to have nought is ours, not to confesse
             That we have nought. I stood amaz’d at this,
             Much troubled, till I heard a friend expresse,
That all things were more ours by being his.
             What Adam had, and forfeited for all,
             Christ keepeth now, who cannot fail or fall.