God's Gifts To Be Enjoyed

From God's all bounteous hand descend     Rare gifts in rich effusion,     And with those gifts no poisons blend,     Nor is their end delusion;     So do not spurn if He bestow     Those forms arrayed in beauty;     If thus His gifts with radiance glow,     Enjoyment is a duty.     Come, deck your brows with leaves and flowers,     Ye fair ones, nothing fearing;     Adorn your homes and train your bowers     Nor deem this sin's appearing;     We do not fit ourselves for bliss     By scorning all adorning;     We may enjoy the good of this     And share heaven's brighter morning.     A garment plain may have its stain,     And saintly brows lack sweetness;     But he who would heaven's glory gain     Must here acquire a meetness;     So eat and drink, rejoice and sing,     But don't forget the ending;     The bells of earth more sweetly ring     If we are heavenward tending.     The world we use, but not abuse,     If we enjoy its beauty;     And they who all its joys refuse     Miss privilege and duty.     Then prize earth's joys, but prize much more     The bloom beyond the river;     God's gifts enjoy, but e'er adore     The ever blessed Giver.