Page:Poetical Remains.pdf/40

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8
DESPONDENCY AND ASPIRATION.

    More vivid, hour by hour, on some pure stream;
            So from that hope are spreading
            Rich hues, o'er nature shedding,
    Each day, a clearer, spiritual gleam.

Let not those rays fade from me;—once enjoy'd,
        Father of spirits! let them not depart!
Leaving the chill'd earth, without form and void,
        Darken'd by mine own heart!
Lift, aid, sustain me! Thou, by whom alone
        All lovely gifts and pure
        In the soul's grasp endure;—
Thou, to the steps of whose eternal throne
All knowledge flows—a sea for evermore
Breaking its crested waves on that sole shore—
O consecrate my life! that I may sing
Of Thee with joy that hath a living spring,
In a full heart of music!—Let my lays
Through the resounding mountains waft thy praise.
And with that theme the wood's green cloisters fill,
And make their quivering leafy dimness thrill