A broken ALTAR, Lord, thy servant rears

THE ALTAR

A broken ALTAR, Lord, thy servant rears,

Made of a heart, and cemented with tears:

Whose parts are as thy hand did frame;

No workman’s tool hath touched the same.

 A HEART alone

Is such a stone,

As nothing but

Thy pow’r doth cut.

Wherefore each part

Of my hard heart

Meets in this frame,

To praise thy name:

That if I chance to hold my peace,

These stones to praise thee may not cease.

 O let thy blessed SACRIFICE be mine,

And sanctify this ALTAR to be thine.

 -- George Herbert