The Gospel Miracles In A Series of Poetical Sketches: With Illustrative Conversations. By Richard Mant |
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TO A--- M---
A BIRTH DAY MEMORIAL OF PATERNAL AFFECTION |
 | The Gospel Miracles |  |
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TO A--- M--- A BIRTH DAY MEMORIAL OF PATERNAL AFFECTION
Named I the charities, which men cement,
Of husband and of brother, sweetly set
In happy union; and could I forget
That other bond, by man's Creator sent
To be of life the strength and ornament,
The parent's dear relation? Ah! not yet
So dull of sense am I, nor of my debt
Unmindful for the good my God hath lent.
Let then my book thy name, my daughter, bear!
So when perchance, from worldly cares to free
Thy thoughts, thou view'st the scenes depictur'd there
Of love divine, 'twill glad thy heart to see,
That still thy image in my mind I bear,
In body, not in spirit, far from thee.
Of husband and of brother, sweetly set
In happy union; and could I forget
That other bond, by man's Creator sent
To be of life the strength and ornament,
The parent's dear relation? Ah! not yet
So dull of sense am I, nor of my debt
Unmindful for the good my God hath lent.
Let then my book thy name, my daughter, bear!
So when perchance, from worldly cares to free
Thy thoughts, thou view'st the scenes depictur'd there
Of love divine, 'twill glad thy heart to see,
That still thy image in my mind I bear,
In body, not in spirit, far from thee.
Yes, ever present to my thoughtful mind,
Take thou a father's blessing! And when sleep
Thy parents' eyes in deep repose shall steep,
Their spirits to their Maker's hand resign'd;
May He, who came to ransom lost mankind,
My Agatha in his protection keep,
From husband, brothers, children long to reap
Earth's best delights, with thoughts of heav'n refin'd;
Nor fail thee there, where those dear charities,
Which shed sweet influence on this world below,
Sublim'd, and purg'd from all alloy, shall rise,
And touch'd with heav'n's unsullied radiance glow;
And man in God's celestial paradise
Shall angels' love in angels' likeness know!
Take thou a father's blessing! And when sleep
Thy parents' eyes in deep repose shall steep,
Their spirits to their Maker's hand resign'd;
May He, who came to ransom lost mankind,
My Agatha in his protection keep,
From husband, brothers, children long to reap
Earth's best delights, with thoughts of heav'n refin'd;
Nor fail thee there, where those dear charities,
Which shed sweet influence on this world below,
Sublim'd, and purg'd from all alloy, shall rise,
And touch'd with heav'n's unsullied radiance glow;
And man in God's celestial paradise
Shall angels' love in angels' likeness know!
| The Gospel Miracles | |