Classic Poem

PART I.

M Y Saviour! both by night and day,
To Thee I pray.
O let my cries transcend the spheres,
And pierce Thy ears!
Lest sorrow stop my fainting breath,
Now near the jaws of greedy death.

My light extinguish'd, numbered
Among the dead;
Like men in battle slain, the womb
Of earth their tomb;
Forgotten as if never known,
By Thy tempestuous wrath o'erthrown.

By Thee lodg'd in the lower deeps,
Where horror keeps;
In dungeons where no sun displays
His cheerful rays;
Crush'd by Thy wrath, on me Thy waves
Rush like so many rolling graves.

My old familiars, now my foes,
Deride my woes;
My house becomes my gaol, where I
In fetters lie;
Blind with my tears, with crying hoarse,
Hands rais'd in vain, a walking corse.

Wilt Thou to those Thy wonders show,
Who sleep below?
The dead from their cold mansions raise,
To sing Thy praise?
Shall mercy find us in the grave,
Or wilt Thou in destruction save?

Wilt Thou Thy wonders bring to light,
In death's long night?
Or shall Thy justice there be shown,
Where none are known?
I have, and still to Thee will pray,
Before the sun restore the day.

O why hast Thou withdrawn Thy grace,
And hid Thy Face
From me, who from my infancy
But daily die?
Whilst I Thy terrors undergo,
Distracted by these storms of woe.

Thy anger like a gulf devours
My trembling pow'rs;
With troops of terrors circled round,
In sorrow drown'd;
Depriv'd of those that lov'd me most,
To all in dark oblivion lost.