Yea, I Have a Goodly Heritage

Listen to:

Yea, I Have a Goodly Heritage (1:02)

by Christina Rossetti

performed by Bob Gonzalez, rhapsode

MY vineyard that is mine I have to keep,
  Pruning for fruit the pleasant twigs and leaves.
Tend thou thy cornfield: one day thou shalt reap
  In joy thy ripened sheaves.

Or if thine be an orchard, graft and prop        5
  Food-bearing trees each watered in its place:
Or if a garden, let it yield for crop
  Sweet herbs and herb of grace.—

But if my lot be sand where nothing grows?—
  Nay, who hath said it? Tune a thankful psalm:        10
For tho’ thy desert bloom not as the rose,
  It yet can rear thy palm.