FREELY YE HAVE RECEIVED,
FREELY GIVE.
SHALL I take and take, and never give!"
It was not in the lily to answer "Yea;"
So it drank the dew and sunlight and rain,
And gave out its fragrance day by day.
'Shall I take and take, and never give?"
The robin chirped, "No, that would be wrong;"
So he picked at the berries and flew away,
And poured out his soul in a beautiful song.
'Shall I take and take, and never give?"
The bee in the clover buzzed, "No, ah, no!"
So he gathered the honey, and filled his cell;
But 't was not for himself that he labored so.
'Shall I take and take, and never give?"
What answer will you make, my little one?
Like the blossom, the bird, and the bee, do you say,
"I will not live for myself alone?"
Let the same little hands that are ready to take
The things that our Father so freely has given,
Be ever as ready to do a kind deed,
Till love to each other makes earth seem like Heaven