 | Poems by William Stanley Roscoe |  |
66
DEO OPTIMO MAXIMO.
O Thou that dwell'st enthron'd on high,
Beyond the seraph's golden sky,
Eternal God of power and might;
Eternal Thou ere time began,
Eternal Thou when he hath run
The circle of his destin'd flight.
Beyond the seraph's golden sky,
Eternal God of power and might;
Eternal Thou ere time began,
Eternal Thou when he hath run
The circle of his destin'd flight.
Almighty God! in prayer to Thee
I bow the head and bend the knee,
With humble soul and heart resign'd;
To Thee with trembling lips I raise
The holy sacrifice of praise:
O Friend and Father of mankind!
I bow the head and bend the knee,
With humble soul and heart resign'd;
To Thee with trembling lips I raise
The holy sacrifice of praise:
O Friend and Father of mankind!
67
By Thee inform'd, this mortal frame
To being from oblivion came,
Thy love and goodness to survey;
To view the glitt'ring vault of night,
To hail the sweet return of light,
And all creation's blooming day!
To being from oblivion came,
Thy love and goodness to survey;
To view the glitt'ring vault of night,
To hail the sweet return of light,
And all creation's blooming day!
In life's young morn Thou did'st impart
The rivers to my beating heart,
And taught'st the streaming pulse to flow;
Amid sensation's changeful tide,
Thou bad'st the trembling soul abide,
Alive to rapture or to woe!
The rivers to my beating heart,
And taught'st the streaming pulse to flow;
Amid sensation's changeful tide,
Thou bad'st the trembling soul abide,
Alive to rapture or to woe!
And still unquench'd, at thy behest
The flame of being warms my breast;
But fleeting life must soon be o'er!
Soon will thy hands again require
This transient spark of heavenly fire,
And this frail heart shall heave no more!
The flame of being warms my breast;
But fleeting life must soon be o'er!
Soon will thy hands again require
This transient spark of heavenly fire,
And this frail heart shall heave no more!
68
But Thou, O Spirit, prompt to save,
Wilt brood upon the shrouded grave,
While wrapt in earth thy offspring sleeps;
As o'er her infant's midnight bed,
With bosom'd breath, and silent tread,
Her secret watch the mother keeps.
Wilt brood upon the shrouded grave,
While wrapt in earth thy offspring sleeps;
As o'er her infant's midnight bed,
With bosom'd breath, and silent tread,
Her secret watch the mother keeps.
O Thou that dwell'st enthron'd on high!
O God of heaven! we shall not die;
Omnipotent, All-wise, and Just!
Death shall resign his iron sway,
And love, that beams eternal day,
Shall warm our ashes in the dust.
O God of heaven! we shall not die;
Omnipotent, All-wise, and Just!
Death shall resign his iron sway,
And love, that beams eternal day,
Shall warm our ashes in the dust.
But how shall man abide with Thee
Thro' ages of eternity,
When suns shall shed their beams no more;
With awe-struck soul I fear the birth,
And sinking on my mother earth,
I faint, I tremble, and adore!
Thro' ages of eternity,
When suns shall shed their beams no more;
With awe-struck soul I fear the birth,
And sinking on my mother earth,
I faint, I tremble, and adore!
| Poems by William Stanley Roscoe | |