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[Page 373]
HYMN.
1 MY God! would that, from earthly trammels free,
2 My thoughts could win their upward way to thee,
3 And there a while in lofty regions prove,
4 The purifying glow of holy love!
5 The solemn dome of night is o'er my head,
6 Where countless stars in grand array are spread —
7 Thy mighty host, that to our wondering eyes
8 One maze of glory is; while sombre lies
9 Beneath its vasty span the darkened face
10 Of many a land, where many a motley race,
11 With all their worldly care, in sleep are lapt.
12 O, might my soul, in adoration rapt,
13 Her high concentered thoughts still raise to thee,
14 With steady power! Alas, this may not be!
[Page 374]15 My thoughts are twilight birds, in seasons rare,
16 That skim and rise, and flit in nether air;
17 That wheel, and turn, and cross, and soar, and swoop,
18 With seeming bootless speed, then feebly droop
19 Their weary wings, which may no more sustain
20 Such flight, and hie to murky haunts again.
21 My God, who knowest the creature thou hast made,
22 Pity my weakness, nor as sin be laid
23 Upon my head, this feebleness of mind;
24 And if sublimer thoughts I may not bind,
25 As the abiding treasure of my heart —
26 Inmates, who rarely from their cell depart,
27 Vouchsafe such grace, that many a transient notion
28 May oft within me kindle true devotion;
29 And, moving as a meteor of the night,
30 Be for a passing, glorious moment bright, —
31 A moment, uttering in words of fire,
32 "Thou art our Mighty Lord, our good and bounteous Sire."
Source edition
Baillie, Joanna, 1762-1851. Fugitive Verses. By Joanna Baillie, author of “Dramas on the Passions,“ etc. London: Edward Moxon, Dover Street. MDCCCXL., 1840, pp. 373-374. (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [40.17].)
Editorial principles
Typography, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation have been cautiously modernized. The source of the text is given and all significant editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. This ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.
Other works by Joanna Baillie
- ADDRESS TO A STEAM VESSEL. ()
- ADDRESS TO THE MUSES. ()
- THE BANISHED MAN, ON A DISTANT VIEW OF HIS COUNTRY, WHICH HE IS QUITTING FOR EVER. ()
- THE BLACK COCK, WRITTEN FOR A WELCH AIR, CALLED “THE NOTE OF THE BLACK COCK.” ()
- A CHEERFUL-TEMPERED LOVER'S FAREWELL TO HIS MISTRESS. ()
- A CHILD TO HIS SICK GRANDFATHER. ()
- DEVOTIONAL SONG FOR A NEGRO CHILD. ()
- A DISAPPOINTMENT. ()
- THE ELDEN TREE. A BALLAD. ()
- EPILOGUE TO THE THEATRICAL REPRESENTATION AT STRAWBERRY HILL, WRITTEN BY JOANNA BAILLIE AND SPOKEN BY THE HON. ANNE S. DAMER, NOVEMBER, 1800. ()
- FRAGMENT OF A POEM. ()
- FY, LET US A' TO THE WEDDING. (AN AULD SANG NEW BUSKIT.) ()
- HOOLY AND FAIRLY. (FOUNDED ON AIN OLD SCOTCH SONG.) ()
- THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. ()
- A HYMN FOR THE KIRK. ()
- HYMN FOR THE SCOTCH KIRK. ()
- HYMN. ()
- HYMN. ()
- HYMN. ()
- HYMN. ()
- HYMN. ()
- HYMN. ()
- A HYMN. ()
- JOB XIII. 15. ()
- THE KITTEN. ()
- A LAMENTATION. ()
- LINES FOR A FRIEND'S ALBUM. ()
- LINES ON THE DEATH OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. ()
- LINES ON THE DEATH OF WILLIAM SOTHEBY, ESQ. ()
- LINES TO A PARROT. ()
- LINES TO A TEAPOT. ()
- LINES TO AGNES BAILLIE ON HER BIRTHDAY. ()
- LONDON. ()
- LORD JOHN OF THE EAST, A Ballad. ()
- MALCOLM'S HEIR. A TALE OF WONDER. ()
- A MELANCHOLY LOVER'S FAREWELL TO HIS MISTRESS. ()
- THE MERRY BACHELOR, (FOUNDED ON THE OLD SCOTCH SONG OF “WILLIE WAS A WANTON WAG.”) ()
- THE MOODY SEER, A BALLAD. ()
- A MOTHER TO HER WAKING INFANT. ()
- NIGHT SCENES OF OTHER TIMES. A Poem, in Three Parts. ()
- A NURSERY LESSON (DEVOTIONAL). ()
- A POETICAL OR SOUND-HEARTED LOVER'S FAREWELL TO HIS MISTRESS. ()
- A PROUD LOVER'S FAREWELL TO HIS MISTRESS. ()
- A REVERIE. ()
- RHYMES FOR CHANTING. ()
- RHYMES. ()
- A SAILOR'S SONG ()
- SCHOOL RHYMES FOR NEGRO CHILDREN. ()
- A SCOTCH SONG. ()
- SECOND DEVOTIONAL SONG. ()
- A SECOND HYMN FOR THE KIRK. ()
- SECOND NURSERY LESSON (ADMONITORY). ()
- SELECT VERSES FROM THE 147TH PSALM. ()
- SIR MAURICE. A Ballad. ()
- SONG WRITTEN FOR THE STRAWBERRY HILL FOUNDLING PLAY, AND SUNG BY MRS. JOURDAIN. ()
- SONG, (FOR A SCOTCH AIR.) ()
- A SONG, (WRITTEN FOR MR. STRUTHER'S COLLECTION OF SONGS.) ()
- SONG, A NEW VERSION OF AN OLD SCOTCH SONG. ()
- SONG, CALLED THE COUNTRY LADY'S REVEILLIE. ()
- SONG, FOR AN IRISH AIR. ()
- SONG, FOR AN IRISH MELODY. ()
- SONG, POVERTY PARTS GOOD COMPANY, ()
- SONG, WOO'D AND MARRIED AND A', ()
- SONG, WRITTEN AT MR. THOMSON'S REQUEST, AS A KIND OF INTRODUCTION TO HIS IRISH MELODIES. ()
- SONG, WRITTEN FOR A WELCH AIR, CALLED “THE NEW YEAR'S GIFT.” ()
- SONG, WRITTEN FOR A WELCH AIR, CALLED “THE PURSUIT OF LOVE.” ()
- SONG, WRITTEN FOR A WELCH MELODY. ()
- SONG, WRITTEN FOR AN IRISH AIR. ()
- A SONG, WRITTEN FOR AN IRISH MELODY. ()
- SONG. ()
- SONG. ()
- SONG. (TO THE SCOTCH AIR OF “MY NANNY O.”) ()
- ST. JOHN XXI. 1. ()
- ST. LUKE VII. 12. ()
- ST. LUKE XVIII. 16. ()
- ST. MATTHEW V. 9. ()
- A SUMMER'S DAY. ()
- THIRD DEVOTIONAL SONG. ()
- A THIRD HYMN FOR THE KIRK. ()
- THOUGHTS TAKEN FROM THE 93RD PSALM. ()
- THUNDER. ()
- TO A CHILD. ()
- TO MRS. SIDDONS. ()
- TO SOPHIA J. BAILLIE, AN INFANT. ()
- THE TRAVELLER BY NIGHT IN NOVEMBER. ()
- TWO BROTHERS. ()
- TWO SONGS. ()
- VERSES SENT TO MRS. BAILLIE ON HER BIRTHDAY, 1813. ()
- VERSES TO OUR OWN FLOWERY KIRTLED SPRING. ()
- VERSES WRITTEN IN FEBRUARY, 1827. ()
- VOLUNTEER'S SONG, WRITTEN IN 1803. ()
- A WINTER'S DAY. ()