Classic Poem

1.

Awake, my Soul, to hymns of praise;
To God the song of triumph raise,
And thankful bless th' almighty Lord,
The God in ev'ry act ador'd,

2.

O cloth'd with Majesty divine,
What pomp, what glory, Lord, are thine!
Light forms thy robe, and round thy head
The Heav'ns their ample curtain spread.

3.

Thou know'st amid the fluid space
The strong-compacted beams to place,
That proof to wasting Ages lie,
And prop the chambers of the sky.

4.

Behold, aloft, the King of Kings,
Borne on the Wind's expanded wings,
(His Chariot by the Clouds supplied,)
Through Heav'n's wide realms triumphant ride.

5.

Around him rang'd in awful state
Th' assembled Storms ministrant wait;
And Flames, attentive to fulfil
The dictates of his mighty Will.

6.

To Him the all-prolific earth,
From Chaos call'd, ascribes her birth,
And fix'd by his Almighty hand
Has stood, and shall for ages stand.

7.

He spake; and o'er each Mountain's head
The Deep its watry mantle spread:
He spake; and from the whelming flood
Again their tops emergent stood;

8.

Now fast adown their bending side
With refluent stream the Currents glide:
Aw'd by his stern rebuke they fly,
While peals of thunder rend the sky;

9.

In mingled tumult backward led,
They haste to their appointed bed,
And, taught their destin'd bounds to know,
No more th' affrighted Earth o'erflow.

10.

The springs, the rivulets (their course
By Nature's ever-copious source
Supplied,) refresh the hilly plain,
And life in all its forms sustain.

11.

Here stooping o'er the river's brink
The herds and flocks promiscuous drink;
There, 'mid the barren desert nurs'd,
The Wild-Ass cools his burning thirst;

12.

While fast beside the murm'ring spring
The feather'd minstrels sit and sing,
And shelter'd in the branches shun
The fervors of the mid-day sun.

13.

His show'rs with verdure crown the hills;
The earth with various fruits he fills:
Preventive of their wants, his aid
Yields to the Brute the springing blade.

14.

For Man, chief object of his care,
His hands the foodful herb prepare,
The glad'ning wine, refreshing oil,
And bread that strings his nerves for toil.

15.

By Him with genial moisture fed
The Trees their shades luxuriant spread;
The Cedars, nurtur'd by his hand,
On Lebanon 's high summit stand:

16.

They weave their social boughs, design'd
A refuge for th' aerial kind:
While on the Fir-tree's spiry top
The vagrant Stork is seen to stop.

17.

See from the hills the Goats depend,
Or bounding from the cliff descend:
The lesser tribes, in furry pride
Array'd, the rock's dark caverns hide.

18.

Her way by Him prescrib'd, the Moon
Our seasons marks, and knows her own;
And, taught by Him, the Orb of day
Slopes in the West his parting ray.

19.

Now Night from Ocean's bed ascends,
And o'er the earth her wings extends;
While favour'd by the friendly gloom
The sylvan race licontious roam:

20.

The Lions chief, with hideous roar,
From God their needful food implore,
And eager for the wonted prey
Along the echoing Desert stray;
21.

Till now, as Morn approaches nigh,
Back to their cavern'd haunts they fly;
Where, satiate with the bloody feast,
The lordly savage sinks to rest.

22.

His care sufficient to the day,
Man to his labour takes his way,
His task at earliest dawn begun,
And ended with the setting sun.

23.

Eternal Ruler of the Skies,
How various are th, Works, how wife!
How great the Wonders thou hast wrought,
And deep beyond all search of thought!

24.

Nor Earth alone beholds her shores
Inrich'd from thy exhaustless stores;
Alike, throughout their liquid reign,
Th' extended Seas thy gifts contain:

25.

Beneath, unnumber'd reptiles swarm,
Of diff'rent size, of diff'rent form;
Above, the ships enormous glide,
Incumbent on the burthen'd tide; —

26.

And oft, the rolling waves between,
The huge Leviathan is seen,
There privileg'd by Thee to stray,
And wanton o'er the watry way.

27.

Thy care, great God, sustains them All;
By hunger urg'd, on Thee they call,
And reap from thy extended hand
Whate'er their various wants demand.

28.

If Thou thy face but turn away,
Their troubled looks their grief betray;
If Thou the vital air deny,
Behold them sicken, faint, and die!

29.

His breath resign'd, on Earth's low bed
Behold the Mortal rest his head;
Dust to its kindred dust returns,
And Earth her ruin'd offspring mourns:

30.

But soon thy breath her loss supplies;
She sees a new-born race arise,
And, o'er her regions scatter'd wide,
The blessings of thy hand divide.

31.

Thy Glory, fearless of decline,
Thy Glory, Lord, shall ever shine,
Thy Works in changeless order lie,
And glad their great Creator's eye.

32.

Earth at thy look shall trembling stand,
Conscious of sov'reign pow'r at hand,
And, touch'd by Thee, Almighty Sire,
The cloud-topt Hills in smoke aspire.

33.

To God in ceaseless strains my tongue
Shall meditate the grateful song,
And, long as breath informs my frame,
The wonders of his Love proclaim.

34.

Assur'd that his paternal ear
With full regard my voice will hear;
His Acts shall be its constant theme,
His Favour my delight supreme.

35.

Behold his wrath on Sinners shed;
Behold them number'd with the dead;
And, struck by his resistless hand,
In heaps promiscuous strew the la'd!

36.

But Thou, my Soul, the hymn of praise
In loudest notes triumphant raise;
And let consenting Nations join
To bless with Me the Name divine.