PSALM cxxxix. Omniscient God, Thine eye divine My inmost soul can see; And every thought and act of mine Is open, Lord, to Thee! When up I rise, when down I lie, Still Thou art at my side. Where shall I shun Thy awful eye, Or from Thy Spirit hide? If up to Heaven my flight I take, I meet Thee face to face; If down to Hell, Thy terrors make The darkness of the place. I plunge into the shades of night; But Thou art there with me: And darkness kindles into light Before one glance from Thee. From Thee, O Lord, I came at first, Thy providence my life has nursed, Each member of my wondrous frame And countless benefits proclaim Down in Thy arms at night I lie; I wake at morn; Thou still art nigh, Search me, O Lord! my spirit prove, From sin O set me free! And make my heart return the love It daily shares from Thee. THE WALL-FLOWER. WHY loves my flower, so high reclined Proud to expose her gentle form, And swing her bright locks in the storm? That lonely spot is bleak and hoar, Where prints my flower her fragrant kiss; Yet sorrow hangs not fonder o'er The ruins of her faded bliss. And wherefore will she thus inweave The owl's lone couch, and feel at eve The wild bat o'er her blossoms fling, And strike them down with heedless wing? Thus, gazing on the loftiest tower Of ruined Fore at eventide, The Muse addressed a lonely flower The Muse's eye, the Muse's ear, Can more than others see and hear: "On this lone tower, so wild and drear, "'Mid storms and clouds I love to lie. "Because I find a freedom here "Which prouder haunts could ne'er supply. |