I hate that noisy drum!-It is a sound
That's full of war and bondage, and I blush
That liberty had ever cause to rush
...
From time to time there is a warning voice
Which, in the various shapes of grief and pain
And disappointment, gives us hopes, not vain,
...
A holy stillness fills the sky,
While evening tunes its vesper song,
And, like a sacred lamp, on high
The solitary moon is hung.
...
Sing thy Creator's praise, and own
Him greatest-wisest-God alone;
He wraps himself in robes of light,
And, clothed in garments pure and bright,
...
My eye look'd round upon the vast expanse
Of glorious Nature-and my raptured vision,
Revelling in the early day-beams' waken'd glance,
...
Thou, Lord! art all in all-and man is nought:
For tho' in privileged hours his soaring thought
...
Hours, days, weeks,-so our life-time flows-
Gently, as melt the vernal snows
Beneath the sun; they pass away,
Like dew-drops in the eye of day,
...
As from the vapours of the east
The sun o'er morning's twilight steals,
So truth illumes the pious breast,
When man his inmost soul unveils:
...
How shall I praise Thee, Lord of light?
How all thy generous love declare?
Though earth is veil'd in shades of night,
...
Peace 'neath the stars may fix her seat,
And bliss look smiling from on high,
When spirits hold communion sweet
With brighter spirits of the sky.
...