WHAT is the first, simplest praise, The universal debt, Which yet the thoughtless heart of man So quickly may forget? "We bless Thee for creation!" So taught the noble band Who left a sound and holy form, For ages yet to stand, Rich legacy of praise and prayer, Laid up through ages past, Strong witness for the truth of God: Oh, may we hold it fast! "We bless Thee for creation!" So are we blithely taught By Haydn's joyous spirit; Such was the praise he brought. A praise all morning sunshine, And sparklets of the spring, O'er which the long life-shadows No chastening softness fling. A praise of early freshness, Of carol and of trill, Re-echoing all the music Of valley and of rill. A praise that we are sharing With every singing breeze, With nightingales and linnets, With waterfalls and trees; With anthems of the flowers Too delicate and sweet For all their fairy minstrelsy Our mortal ears to greet. A mighty song of blessing Archangels too uplift, For their own bright existence, A grand and glorious gift. But such their full life-chalice, So sparkling and so pure, And such their vivid sense of joy, Sweet, solid, and secure, We cannot write the harmonies To such a song of bliss, We only catch the melody, And sing, content with this. We are but little children, And earth a broken toy; We do not know the treasures In our Father's house of joy. Thanksgiving for creation We ignorantly raise; We know not yet the thousandth part Of that for which we praise. Yet praise Him for creation! Nor cease the happy song, But this our Hallelujah Through all our life prolong; 'Twill mingle with the chorus Before the heavenly throne, Where what it truly is TO BE Shall first be fully known. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONG OF AUTUMN by PAUL VERLAINE LEGEND by JOHN VAN ALSTYN WEAVER MAXIMS FOR THE OLD HOUSE: THE PLASTER ON THE CHIMNEY by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH TAM SAMSON'S ELEGY by ROBERT BURNS PETER'S DENIAL OF HIS MASTER by JOHN BYROM |