Peace by Henry Vaughan

Peace
1650

My Soul, there is a country
Afar beyond the stars,
Where stands a winged sentry
All skillful in the wars;
There, above noise and danger
Sweet Peace sits, crown’d with smiles,
And One born in a manger
Commands the beauteous files.
He is thy gracious friend
And (O my Soul awake!)
Did in pure love descend,
To die here for thy sake.
If thou canst get but thither,
There grows the flow’r of peace,
The rose that cannot wither,
Thy fortress, and thy ease.
Leave then thy foolish ranges,
For none can thee secure,
But One, who never changes,
Thy God, thy life, thy cure

Henry Vaughan
Born: 17 April 1621, Brecknockshire, Wales
Nationality: Welsh
Died: 23 April 1695, Scethrog, Wales

Vaughan was a metaphysical poet, translator, author, and medical physician. His religious poetry appeared in Silex Scintillans in 1650 and in 1655. Vaughan was persuaded by the religious poet George Herbert to reject idle verse and in 1652 he showed his authenticity and dept of conviction in “Mount of Olives and Solitary Devotions.” It was also in the 1650s Vaughan began a lifelong career in medical practice.