I recently posted a poem by Sarah Doudney (1841-1926) that was first sung at the funeral of Charles Spurgeon. It was called “The Miracle Hath Come”. Now here’s another poem by Doudney called “Lesson of the Water Mill). Dr. Bob Griffin introduced it like this:
As a boy I remember my mother quoting this poem to us children. She wanted
us learn its lesson to live wisely each day, as life would pass so quickly
and we could never go back. I wish I had learned it’s message back then.
Sarah Doudney wrote this when she was just 15 years old.
LESSON OF THE WATER-MILL
Listen to the water-mill through the livelong day,
How the clicking of its wheel wears the hours away!
Languidly the autumn wind stirs the forest leaves,
From the field the reapers sing, binding up their sheaves;
And the proverb haunts my mind as a spell is cast-
“The mill cannot grind with the water that has past.”
Autumn winds revive no more leaves that once are shed,
And the sickle cannot reap corn once gathered;
Flows the ruffled streamlet on, tranquil, deep, and still;
Never gliding back again to the water-mill
Truly speaks the proverb old with meaning vast-
“The mill cannot grind with the water that has past.”
Take the lesson to thyself, true and loving heart;
Golden youth is fleeting by, summer hours depart;
Learn to make the most of life, lose no happy day;
Time will never bring thee back chances swept away!
Leave no tender word unsaid, love while love shall last-
“The mill cannot grind with the water that has past.”
Work while yet the daylight shines, man of strength and will!
Never does the streamlet glide useless by the mill;
Wait not till tomorrow’s sun beams upon thy way
All that thou canst call thine own lies in thy “Today”‘
Power, intellect and health may not always last-
“The mill cannot grind with the water that has past.”
Oh, the wasted hours of life that have drifted by!
Oh, the good that might have been – lost, without a sigh!
Love that we once have – saved by a single word,
Thoughts conceived, but never penned, perishing unheard;-
Take the proverb to thine heart, take, and hold it fast-
“The mill cannot grind with the water that has past.”
