The Poetical Works of George Barlow :: :: University of Virginia Library

Lift me far beyond the region
Where frail earthly loves abound:
Rose-sweet lips on earth are legion,—
Myriad flowers star earthly ground,—
Lift me, God, to thine own dwelling
Where thy ceaseless love is welling
Forth, and thy great peace is found.

Lo! I weary of all the passion
That the old pale earth provides:
Women's lips and love's same fashion,
Flowers and laughter, songs and brides:
Take me where some love is deathless;
Plant me 'mid thy snow-peaks breathless;
'Mid the plunge of thy great tides.

I am weary; but I follow,
God, the blood-marked track of thee:
Sweetest songs of earth sound hollow
By the music of thy sea:
Take me where eternal truth is;
Where thy love shines, where thy ruth is;
Mould thy likeness into me.

Far beyond the earth's green places,
Haunts of flowers and women fair,
Rose-flushed cheeks and wondrous faces,
Set me 'mid thine icy air:
Give me thine own love immortal;
Open thou the sky's blue portal;
Let me pass, and find thee there!