University of Virginia Library

EVENING.

God bless the evening! Glorious are the hills!
And happy are the mountains, and the seas,
At this devoted hour! Glorious heavens!
The silent, awful depths of solitude,
Where nature worships God alone—how grand!
How glorious are the thunderings forth of that
Bright scripture, where the everlasting hills
Are auditors to God, and where they stand
To hear the repercussive thunder speak
The fulness of his glory, when he comes
In gladness and rejoicing, horsed upon
The lightnings in the whirlwinds of his might!
The awful grandeur of thy presence fills
Me with adoring! For the cloudless skies
Are beautiful, and nature rides triumphant
Through the opening gates of heaven, and leads
The soul into the mercy-seat of God, to live
And learn the anthems of the moon and stars,
And sing the hallelujahs of the blest.
For all the kingdoms of the earth are filled
With gladness, and the clustering island-clouds
Are throned above creation, like to ships
Of gold upon cerulean seas!—For all
The merchandise of visionary bliss
Is setting sail for heaven; and now the dews
Of ocean are like angel locks on high,
As if advancing to the isles of love.
And thus my spirit fills!—then, let me say,
God bless the evening! 'Tis the solemn time
To love with rapture—when all else is still—
When life keeps music with the song of birds,
And with the waterfalls that praise the Lord.
When love gives all its energies to hope,
And feeds upon those splendour-bursts that fill
The animated soul! yea, when the truths
Of heaven are written on the wonder-works
Of God, and when the ocean drinks the sun
In glory, and exults beneath the stars.
When nature makes her mistress of the earth—
The stranger seeks the inn—and the laborer
Returns from his hire—when the lover calls
Upon his mistress—and, when God is seen
Apparent in the works that he has made.
May God Almighty bless the evening! bless
The everlasting, silent evening! when
The Lord ascended on the Mount to talk
With Moses and Elias—when he prayed
And Peter slept—and when the Jews refused
Him entertainment!—when he taught them all
The way into his Father's house; and when
His passion was too great for man to bear!
And when the glorious star appeared in heaven,
To herald Jesus Christ on earth!—when all
Was filled with harmony—Elijah came
From Cherith—when the mountain rocks were rent,
And God Almighty's “still small voice” was heard
In heaven's repercussive thunder!—The time
When dear Almeda met me by the sea,
And paid the sacred vows of love!—and when
The angel of the Lord appeared in heaven,
Descended on the rainbows of the skies—
And with her soul ascended into bliss.
But still, God bless the evening! We shall meet
Again, beside still waters, where there is
Nor day nor night! for glory hath no need
Of sunshine,—for the face of God doth light
His kingdom, where eternity shall roll
To that immortal morning, when the soul
Shall feed upon Jehovah, as upon
The spirit-bursts of that bright one, whose joy
Is now unspeakable and full of love.