The Complete Poems of Sir Thomas Moore Part 98

As down in the sunless retreats of the Ocean, Sweet flowers are springing no mortal can see, So, deep in my soul the still prayer of devotion, Unheard by the world, rises silent to Thee, My G.o.d! silent to Thee-- Pure, warm, silent, to Thee,

As still to the star of its wors.h.i.+p, tho' clouded, The needle points faithfully o'er the dim sea, So, dark as I roam, in this wintry world shrouded, The hope of my spirit turns trembling to Thee, My G.o.d! trembling to Thee-- True, fond, trembling, to Thee.

BUT WHO SHALL SEE.

(AIR.--STEVENSON.)

But who shall see the glorious day When, throned on Zion's brow, The LORD shall rend that veil away Which hides the nations now?[1]

When earth no more beneath the fear Of this rebuke shall lie;[2]

When pain shall cease, and every tear Be wiped from every eye.[3]

Then, Judah, thou no more shall mourn Beneath the heathen's chain; Thy days of splendor shall return, And all be new again.[4]

The Fount of Life shall then be quaft In peace, by all who come;[5]

And every wind that blows shall waft Some long-lost exile home.

[1] "And he will destroy, in this mountain, the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations."--Isaiah, xxv. 7.

[2] "The rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth."--Isaiah, xxv. 8.

[3] "And G.o.d shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; neither shall there be any more pain."--Rev. xxi:4.

[4] "And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new."--Rev. xxi. 5.

[5] "And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."--Rev.

xxii. 17.

ALMIGHTY G.o.d!

CHORUS OF PRIESTS.

(AIR.--MOZART.)

Almighty G.o.d! when round thy shrine The Palm-tree's heavenly branch we twine,[1]

(Emblem of Life's eternal ray, And Love that "fadeth not away,") We bless the flowers, expanded all,[2]

We bless the leaves that never fall,

And trembling say,--"In Eden thus "The Tree of Life may flower for us!"

When round thy Cherubs--smiling calm, Without their flames--we wreathe the Palm.

Oh G.o.d! we feel the emblem true-- Thy Mercy is eternal too, Those Cherubs, with their smiling eyes, That crown of Palm which never dies, Are but the types of Thee above-- Eternal Life, and Peace, and Love!

[1] "The Scriptures having declared that the Temple of Jerusalem was a type of the Messiah, it is natural to conclude that the Palms, which made so conspicuous a figure in that structure, represented that Life and Immortality which were brought to light by the Gospel."--"Observations on the Palm, as a sacred Emblem," by W. Tighe.

[2] "And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubim, and palm-trees, and _open flowers_."--1 Kings, VI. 29.

OH FAIR! OH PUREST!

SAINT AUGUSTINE TO HIS SISTER.

(AIR.--MOORE)

Oh fair! oh purest! be thou the dove That flies alone to some sunny grove, And lives unseen, and bathes her wing, All vestal white, in the limpid spring.

There, if the hovering hawk be near, That limpid spring in its mirror clear Reflects him ere he reach his prey And warns the timorous bird away, Be thou this dove; Fairest, purest, be thou this dove,

The sacred pages of G.o.d's own book Shall be the spring, the eternal brook, In whose holy mirror, night and day, Thou'lt study Heaven's reflected ray;-- And should the foes of virtue dare, With gloomy wing, to seek thee there, Thou wilt see how dark their shadows lie Between Heaven and thee, and trembling fly!

Be thou that dove; Fairest, purest, be thou that dove.

ANGEL OF CHARITY.

(AIR.--HANDEL)

Angel of Charity, who, from above, Comest to dwell a pilgrim here, Thy voice is music, thy smile is love, And Pity's soul is in thy tear.

When on the shrine of G.o.d were laid First-fruits of all most good and fair, That ever bloomed in Eden's shade, Thine was the holiest offering there.

Hope and her sister, Faith, were given But as our guides to yonder sky; Soon as they reach the verge of heaven, There, lost in perfect bliss, they die.

But, long as Love, Almighty Love, Shall on his throne of thrones abide, Thou, Charity, shalt dwell above, Smiling for ever by His side!