Only A Branch

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.