Classic Poem

True bread of life, in pitying mercy given,
Long-famished souls to strengthen and to feed;
Christ Jesus, Son of God, true bread of heaven,
Thy flesh is meat, thy blood is drink indeed.

I cannot famish, though this earth should fail,
Tho' life through all its fields should pine and die;
Though the sweet verdure should forsake each vale,
And every stream of every land run dry.

True Tree of life! Of thee I eat and live,
Who eateth of thy fruit shall never die;
'Tis thine the everlasting health to give,
The youth and bloom of immortality.

Feeding on thee, all weakness turns to power,
This sickly soul revives, like earth in spring;
Strength floweth on and in, each buoyant hour,
This being seems all energy, all wing.

Jesus, our dying, buried, risen Head,
Thy Church's Life and Lord, Immanuel!
At thy dear cross we find the eternal bread,
And in thy empty tomb the living well.