[Poems by Hale in] The ladies' wreath a selection from the female poetic writers of England and America |
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MAN'S FIRST OFFERING. |
 | [Poems by Hale in] The ladies' wreath |  |
MAN'S FIRST OFFERING.
When nature in infancy smiled,
All innocence, beauty, and love,
Ere sorrow had blighted, or sin had beguiled,
Or the serpent had banished the dove,—
Then man, as Jehovah's own child,
Still worshipped his Father above—
The blue vault of heaven his temple sublime,—
His altar, creation—his offering, time.
All innocence, beauty, and love,
Ere sorrow had blighted, or sin had beguiled,
Or the serpent had banished the dove,—
Then man, as Jehovah's own child,
Still worshipped his Father above—
The blue vault of heaven his temple sublime,—
His altar, creation—his offering, time.
The “seventh” of all was the tithe,
The heart the pure censer of fire;
The incense was hallowed with gratitude blithe,
Which bade it to heaven aspire;
(Then change had ne'er troubled, for Time had no scythe,)
And seraphims sounded the choir;
And soft, sweet, harmonious the song flow'd around,
Like the spirit of purity breathing in sound.
The heart the pure censer of fire;
The incense was hallowed with gratitude blithe,
Which bade it to heaven aspire;
(Then change had ne'er troubled, for Time had no scythe,)
And seraphims sounded the choir;
And soft, sweet, harmonious the song flow'd around,
Like the spirit of purity breathing in sound.
| [Poems by Hale in] The ladies' wreath | |