Poems (Holmes)/On Lent

by Alice Ann Holmes

On Lent.

Dear Saviour, now Thine ear incline,
 While Thee we seek by fervent prayer,
And fill our hearts with love divine,
 That we with joy Thy cross may bear;
For we have hailed with holy mirth
 The sacred Christmas festival,
That tells us of Thy lowly birth,
 When first on earth Thou cam'st to dwell.

And now with Thee we'll gladly go,
 In deepest penitence arrayed,
And taste Thy bitter grief and woe
 In the lonely desert shade;
And there bewail our sinful deeds
 In weeping, fasting, and in prayer,
And follow where Thy Spirit leads,
 And joyful all Thy sorrows share.

Oh, give us grace those means to use
 That best our bodies will subdue;
Thyself into our souls infuse,
 And day by day our hearts renew,
Until the blessed Easter morn
 Shall waft Thy holy Church relief;
In Faith and Hope may we press on,
 Then share Thy joy, as now Thy grief.