 | Songs of Religion and Life |  |
106
O Hear my Prayer!
O hear my prayer,
If I may dare
To talk with Thee, Great Spirit,
Of mortal mould,
To frailty sold,
Who dust and death inherit!
If I may dare
To talk with Thee, Great Spirit,
Of mortal mould,
To frailty sold,
Who dust and death inherit!
What thing am I
To soar so high,
Such proud conceits to cherish?—
An insect born
With dewy morn,
With dewy eve to perish.
To soar so high,
Such proud conceits to cherish?—
An insect born
With dewy morn,
With dewy eve to perish.
107
Yet am I not
By Thee forgot,
Thou knowest not forgetting;
The perfect All
Nor great nor small
Nor rising knows nor setting.
By Thee forgot,
Thou knowest not forgetting;
The perfect All
Nor great nor small
Nor rising knows nor setting.
One ocean rolls
Whose waves are souls,
With radiant-shifting features;
That ocean Thou,
Eternal now,
The shifting waves Thy creatures.
Whose waves are souls,
With radiant-shifting features;
That ocean Thou,
Eternal now,
The shifting waves Thy creatures.
When Thou art nigh
We live; we die
From Thy sustainment sundered;
Even as the spark
Goes out in dark
That from its flame hath wandered.
We live; we die
From Thy sustainment sundered;
Even as the spark
Goes out in dark
That from its flame hath wandered.
108
Therefore no harm
That wingèd worm
Should lofty fancies cherish;
Or great or small,
On Him hangs all,
Who lives and cannot perish.
That wingèd worm
Should lofty fancies cherish;
Or great or small,
On Him hangs all,
Who lives and cannot perish.
And I will dare
To lift my prayer
With trust in Thee, Great Spirit,
By whose high might
Day springs from Night
And Death doth Life inherit.
To lift my prayer
With trust in Thee, Great Spirit,
By whose high might
Day springs from Night
And Death doth Life inherit.
| Songs of Religion and Life | |