Classic Poem

Part I.

M Y ravish'd soul, Great God, Thy praises sings,
Whom glory circles with her radiant wings,
And majesty invests than day more bright,
Cloth'd with the beams of new-created light.
He, like an all-enfolding canopy,
Fram'd the vast concave of the spangled sky,
And in the air-embraced waters set
The basis of His hanging cabinet.
Who on the clouds as on a chariot rides,
And with a rein the flying tempest guides.
Bright angels His attendant spirits made,
By flame-dispersing seraphims obey'd.
The ever-fixed earth cloth'd with the flood,
In whose calm bosom unseen mountains stood;
At His rebuke it shrunk with sudden dread,
And from His Voice's thunder swiftly fled.
Then hills their late-concealed heads extend,
And sinking valleys to their feet descend.
The trembling waters through their bottoms wind,
Till they the sea, their nurse and mother, find.
He to the swelling waves prescribes a bound,
Lest earth again should by their rage be drown'd.
Springs through the pleasant meadows pour their drills,
Which snake-like glide between the bord'ring hills,
Till they to rivers grow, where beasts of prey
Their thirst assuage, and such as man obey.

Part II.

In neighbouring groves the air's musicians sing,
And with their music entertain the spring.
He from celestial casement show'rs distills,
And with renew'd increase His creatures fills.
He makes the food-full earth her fruit produce,
For cattle grass, and herbs for human use.
The spreading vine long purple clusters bears,
Whose juice the hearts of pensive mortals cheers.
Fat olives smooth our brows with suppling oil,
And strength'ning corn rewards the reaper's toil.
His fruit-affording trees with sap abound.
The Lord hath Lebanon with cedars crown'd;
They to the warbling birds a shelter yield,
And wand'ring storks in lofty fir-trees build.
Wild goats to craggy cliffs for refuge fly,
And conies in the rocks' dark entrails lie.
He guides the changing moon's alternate face,
The sun's diurnal and his annual race.
'Twas He that made the all-informing light,
And with dark shadows clothes the aged night.
Then beasts of prey break from their mountain caves;
The roaring lion pinch'd with hunger craves
Food from His Hand; but when heav'ns greatest fire
Obscures the stars, they to their dens retire.
Men with the morning rise, to labour prest,
Toil all the day, at night return to rest.

Part III.

Great God! how manifold, how infinite
Are all Thy works! with what a clear fore-sight
Didst Thou create and multiply their birth!
Thy riches fill the far-extended earth;
The ample sea, in whose unfathom'd deep
Innumerable sorts of creatures creep.
Bright scaled fishes in her entrails glide,
And high built ships upon her bosom ride;
About whose sides the crooked dolphin plays,
And monstrous whales huge spouts of water raise.
All on the land, or in the ocean bred,
On Thee depend, in their due season fed.
They gather what Thy bounteous Hands bestow,
And in the summer of Thy favour grow.
When Thou contract'st Thy clouded brows, they mourn,
And dying, to their former dust return.
Again created by Thy quick'ning breath,
To re-supply the massacres of death.
No tract of time His glory shall destroy,
He in th' obedience of His works shall joy.
But when their wild revolts His wrath provoke,
Earth trembles, and the airy mountains smoke.
I all my life will my Creator praise,
And to His service dedicate my days.
May He accept the music of my voice,
While I with sacred harmony rejoice.
Hence, you profane, who in your sins delight,
God shall extirp, and cast you from His sight.
My soul, bless thou this all-commanding King:
You saints and angels Hallelujah sing.