I read God's awful name emblazon'd high With golden letters on th' illumin'd sky; Nor less the mystic characters I see Wrought in each flower, inscribed on every tree; In every leaf that trembles to the breeze I hear the voice of God among the trees. With Thee in shady solitudes I walk, With Thee in busy crowded cities talk; In every creature own Thy forming power, In each event Thy providence adore. Thy hopes shall animate my drooping soul, Thy precepts guide me and Thy fear control: Thus shall I rest, unmov'd by all alarms, Secure within the temple of Thine arms; From anxious cares, from gloomy terrors free, And feel myself omnipotent in Thee. Then when the last, the closing hour draws nigh, And earth recedes before my swimming eye, -- When trembling on the doubtful edge of fate I stand, and stretch my view to either state: -- Teach me to quit this transitory scene With decent triumph and a look serene; Teach me to fix my ardent hopes on high, And having lived to Thee, in Thee to die! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TEARS AND KISSES by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON A STRANGE MEETING by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES THE BALLAD OF PROSE AND RHYME by HENRY AUSTIN DOBSON LINES WRITTEN TO HIS WIFE [WHILE ON A VISIT TO UPPER INDIA] by REGINALD HEBER EPITAPH ON S.P., A CHILD OF QUEEN ELIZABETH'S CHAPEL by BEN JONSON INDIGNATION; AN ODE by LASCELLES ABERCROMBIE |