Only A Branch
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ONLY A BRANCH
"lam the Vine, ye are the Branches."—John Xv. 5.
Tis only a little Branch,
A thing so fragile and weak, But that little Branch hath a message true
To give, could it only speak.
"I'm only a little Branch, I live by a life not mine, For the sap that flows through my tendrils small
Is the life-blood of the Vine.
"No power indeed have I
The fruit of myself to bear,
But since I'm part of the living Vine,
Its fruitfulness I share.
"Dost thou ask how I abide?
How this life I can maintain ?— I am bound to the Vine by life's strong band,
And I only need remain.
"Where first my life was given,
In the spot where I am set,
Upborne and upheld as the days go by,
By the stem which bears me yet.
"I fear not the days to come,
I dwell not upon the past,
As moment by moment I draw a life,
Which for evermore shall last.
"I bask in the sun's bright beams,
Which with sweetness fills my fruit,
Yet I own not the clusters hanging there,
For they all come from the root."
A life which is not my own,
But another's life in me: This, this is the message the Branch would speak,
A message to thee and me.
O struggle not to "abide,"
Nor labour to "bring forth fruit,"
But let Jesus unite thee to Himself,
As the Vine Branch to the root.