Excite with wonder while ye deepen awe
Shake out your banners, nod your plumes, ye trees
That bask the mountains, fringe the glooms and dens ;
Wave, O ye reeds and grass, and picture forth
The wide wing-waftings of the under winds;
Bend low, O stately corn; ye thickets thrill;
O radiant flowers, upstretch your honey-cups—
Praise ye the Lord!
O all ye myriad-life that gather up
The fulgent glory of the sun-warmed airs;
Ye rare-winged birds that vocalize the world,
And skim across the summer wave and wold;
Ye cattle grazing on a thousand hills;
Ye beasts that lurk in many dens and caves;
Ye scaly things that deep in waters glide-
Swell out your being's grand exuberance-
(For earnest life is ever truest praise)—
Slide on, O seasons, in your changeful dance,
Charm the wide earth with mingling lights and shades, And crown the reeling goblet of the year:
Ye sabbaths raise your full magnificat
Praise ye the Lord!
O thou our orb, amidst thy glittering race,
Made eloquent with beauty by His hand,
How fair thou art; yea, very fair and good!
O, teem thy myriad pulses forth in praise;
Pour out thy soul unto the listening hours;
O take it up, thou ether, take it up ;
Catch the rapt strain thou awful, awful void;
Ye sister orbits waft the glory on,
And on, and on, until the universe
Is full of harmony, as full of Him-
O all things that have motion, voice, or breath, Whether ye circle round the Holiest
On wings celestial, or roll amid
Th' unmeasured ecstasies of marvellous space
In light and shadowing; whether with form
Erect ye walk the world i'th' image of God,
Or creep, or run, or soar, or swim, or glide :
Oh! all created things
Stupendous Being! Majesty eterne! Triessenced Deity-essential One! Creator Uncreate! who veil'st Thy face In vapoury void; who in the vast occult Pavilions of the skies dost hide thyself;
Thou Unapproached, Unsearched, Unreached, Unknown,
Whose hidden name no earthly syllables
Could shape for human utterance to us
Dim-shadowed in the mystic "GOD."-
O Thou, before Whose face the mad, blind storms
Divide tumultuously the placid air;
At Whose approach the black, confederate clouds
Asunder start with loud convulsive shout,
And drop their half-forged lightnings sudden down ;
Before Whose breath the stars slip from their poles,
The earth hath under-shudderings, the hills
Do shake and melt, the valleys heave and smoke,
The cedars and the oaks abase themselves
And bow; the forest-realms and ocean-gatherings
Affrighted, roar, afflict, and lash themselves :
O Thou, Whose might is faintly figured forth
In all the varying pageantry from year to year
Of this the narrow limit of our dim
And feeble ken; thou sacred, sacred Power !
Even as the rain, from earth and ocean drawn
In mists and fogs, thither returns again
In copious showers, so may all essences,
All springs of life, all impulses, all interests,
All powers, and motions, erst derived from Thee,
To Thee return, in tenfold sympathies
Of praise ecstatic, endless, infinite!
HEN the tempests rage and roar,
When the torrents beat and pour,
When the dearest dreams are crossed,
When my soul is plagued and tossed,
Son of God, remember me.
When my day is full of light,
When the stars of hope are bright,
When my cup brims clear and high,
Smooth my path, and clear my sky,
Son of God, remember me.
If my giddy feet would stray,
Chasing shadows that betray;
Should my heart and will perverse
Covet dross that brings a curse,
In temptation's struggle-hour,
When the flesh hath double power,
When the better nature sinks,
When resolve grows weak and shrinks,
Wheresoe'er my pathway leads,
Whatsoe'er my nature needs,
Whensoe'er my courage fails,
Howsoe'er the fiend assails,
When my day around me sets,
When the midnight glooms and frets,
When the sighing river foams,
When the death-cold shadow comes,
Son of God, remember me,
Through the hour of densest night,
Through the whelm of Nature's blight,
Through the gloom and agony,
Thou Who sufferedst on the tree,
Glad in sorrow's sweet surcease,
Wrapt in balms of changeless peace,
Borne on wings of ecstasy,
O'er the calm eternally,
Bring me, Son of God, to Thee !
EPITAPH ON A BELOVED FRIEND.
EARY one, rest from thy burden of care,
All thy afflictions and sorrows are o'er,
Rest evermore in that paradise, where
Earth's heavy-laden ones weep nevermore;
Rough was thy pilgrimage, frail was thy form,
Nipped by disease like a flower in the blast,
Hot was the conflict, and fierce was the storm,
All the more sweet was thy triumph at last.
EAR Harriet, and thou art no more,
No longer thy spirit is chained;
Life's tempests and struggles are o'er,
The haven of rest is attained;
Away from the troubles of life;
Away from its sorrows and woes;
Away from its pitiless strife,
Thy spirit has found its repose.
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