My Cross

My Lord would make a cross for me
But I would none of His, —
I thought I better knew than He
To bear my pain or bliss.

My Lord would make a cross for me
But I would make my own, —
In fashion light as cross could be
But now it weighs like stone.

If I had only bowed me low
To take the cross He laid,
It never would have galled me so
As this, the one I made.

For aye His cross is true and sure
In all its breadth and length,
Just what His children can endure
And measured to their strength.

But I had fainted 'neath the load
I on myself did lay,
Had He not met me on the road
And helped me on the way!