[Page 383]
HYMN.
1 MY soul! and dost thou faintly shrink,
2 Thus trembling on an awful brink?
3 Or rough or smooth, but one step more,
4 And thy long pilgrimage is o'er.
5 Thy pilgrim's cloak that clipped thee round,
6 Like a seared leaf, dropped on the ground,
7 A base and mouldering thing shall lie,
8 Its form and uses all gone by.
9 Behind thee, closing darkness all
10 Shall cover, like a midnight pall,
11 Before thee — No! I may not dare
12 To think, or fancy, what lies there. —
13 Doth the unbodied spirit take its flight,
14 Unto its destined, distant, sphere of light,
[Page 384]15 Upon the buoyant wings of morn,
16 All conscious of its glory borne?
17 Or with an instant transit, make
18 The awful change, and then awake,
19 As from a slumber, sound and deep,
20 Awakes an Infant from its sleep,
21 With limbs refreshed and vigour new,
22 A gradual progress to pursue?
23 Allied to Infancy, with earthly charms,
24 Once fondled in an elder brother's arms,
25 Who said to men, by worldly passions driven,
26 "Lo! such as these possess the realms of heaven."
27 Or shall it powerful, and at once
28 Start up as from a gloomy trance,
29 With sudden, glorious light astounded,
30 By the blest brotherhood of saints surrounded,
31 Where those, who have been loved and lost, appear
32 With kindred looks of greeting and of cheer?
33 Away, ye pictured thoughts that pass
34 Like figures on a magic glass,
[Page 385]35 Or fitful light with arrowy rays
36 That on the northern welkin plays!
37 A steady gleam that will not flit,
38 Comes from the words of Holy Writ.
39 "Eye hath not seen, and ear hath never heard,
40 Nor heart conceived the things by God prepared,
41 For those who love him. " — O such love impart,
42 Repentant, fervent and adoring,
43 From every taint of sin restoring,
44 My Father and my God! to this poor heart!
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. 383-385. (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. ()