 | The Poetical Works of William Cullen Bryant |  |
“THE EARTH IS FULL OF THY RICHES.”
Almighty! hear thy children raise
The voice of thankfulness and praise,
To Him whose wisdom deigned to plan
This fair and bright abode for man.
The voice of thankfulness and praise,
To Him whose wisdom deigned to plan
This fair and bright abode for man.
For when this orb of sea and land
Was moulded in thy forming hand,
Thy calm, benignant smile impressed
A beam of heaven upon its breast.
Was moulded in thy forming hand,
Thy calm, benignant smile impressed
A beam of heaven upon its breast.
Then rose the hills, and broad and green
The vale's deep pathway sank between;
Then stretched the plains to where the sky
Stoops and shuts in the exploring eye.
The vale's deep pathway sank between;
Then stretched the plains to where the sky
Stoops and shuts in the exploring eye.
Beneath that smile earth's blossoms glowed,
Her fountains gushed, her rivers flowed,
And from the shadowy wood was heard
The pleasant sound of breeze and bird.
Her fountains gushed, her rivers flowed,
And from the shadowy wood was heard
The pleasant sound of breeze and bird.
Thy hand outspread the billowy plains
Of ocean, nurse of genial rains,
Hung high the glorious sun and set
Night's cressets in her arch of jet.
Of ocean, nurse of genial rains,
Hung high the glorious sun and set
Night's cressets in her arch of jet.
Lord, teach us, while the admiring sight
Dwells on Thy works in deep delight,
To deem the forms of beauty here
But shadows of a brighter sphere.
Dwells on Thy works in deep delight,
To deem the forms of beauty here
But shadows of a brighter sphere.
Great Barrington, 1820.
| The Poetical Works of William Cullen Bryant | |