The Treasury Of Sacred Song

By Francis Turner Palgrave

LXIII THE FOIL

If we could see below

The sphere of Virtue and each shining grace,

As plainly as that above doth show,

This were the better sky, the brighter place.

GOD hath made stars the foil

To set-off virtues, griefs to set-off sinning;

Yet in this wretched world we toil,

As if grief were not foul, nor virtue winning.