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Decorative woodcut initial A featuring floral and foliage motifs.
ALTHOUGH in this land, there is such a mild abundance
For the external fire of life,
A surplus to burn without a care,
And flesh and blood—that coarse beast—
To give full rein to its earthly lusts;
Yet I often feel, within my heart,
A sparking fire, a deeply hidden life,
That hungers for a higher good;
And says: We are not at home on this earth;
I thirst for my Fatherland,
And the Father who birthed me from His essence,
Against which the Donkey The "donkey" or "ass" was a common 17th-century emblem representing the stubborn, animalistic nature of the human body which resists spiritual impulses. opposes itself:
"There is still time enough; away with all too deep concerns:
Fulfill yet this one last desire."
This drives the Flesh, from one morning to the next,
And lulls the Spirit into a false rest.
Now no longer. Now is the time for waking:
Before the Soul becomes a thistle,
And may never reach grace again,
O Lord! give me another heart.
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous
man his thoughts, and let him return to the
Lord, and He will have mercy on him. Isaiah 55: 7.
Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden
your hearts. Hebrews 3: 15.