Classic Poem

1.

God of my praise, thy silence break;
Thy timeliest aid my woes bespeak,
While tongues to falsehood train'd prepare
To wrap me in the deathful snars:

2.

Now words of deepest art they try;
Now hostile threats around me fly;
And Crouds, inflam'd with causeless rage;
Wars, fiercest wars, against me wage.

3.

While thus with Enmity profest
My Fame they wound, my Peace molest,
While stedfast Hate my Love repays,
To Thee my Soul incessant prays:

4.

But O! what anguish rends my mind,
What keen regret! condemn'd to find
(As gifts on gifts my hands bestow,)
In each expected friend a foe.

5.

On Him whose heart, with malice fraught,
Against my peace has bent its thought,
Thus let thy Justice, Lord, by Me
Aloud proclaim its fix'd Decree.

6.

Arraign'd at stern Oppression's bar,
Some dread accuser let him share,
That, planted on his right, may stand,
And vengeance from his Judge demand:

7.

Nor let his deprecation win
The wish'd for pardon to his sin,
But witness of his guilt become,
And seal, beyond reverse, his doom.

8.

Let death's accelerated day
To worthier hands his Charge convey,
His roof a weeping Widow see,
Her Orphans hanging at her knee;

9.

While as from Morn to Eve they roam,
(Some ruin'd cell their casual home,)
Let these, by pinching hunger led,
Seek at the rich man's gate their bread.

10.

His wealth let fell Extortion spoil;
The gather'd harvest of his toil
Let Rapine's greedy hand surprize,
While Each his woes unpitying eyes;

11.

And let his Race, no succour near,
Corrected, lesson in thy fear
This Age; and, one succession o'er,
Be seen by human eye no more.

12.

Let what of sen his Sires have done,
What guilt his Mother's heart has known,
In Heav'n be noted, and their Crime
Recorded stand to endless Time.

13.

Let Wrath and Horror at thy word
Quick on th' abandon'd offspring pour'd,
(The measure of their sins fulfill'd)
Their name to just extinction yield.

14.

Such vengeance on the miscreant rest,
Who, when with heaviest woes oppress'd
The helpless innocent he view'd,
With murth'rous hate his soul pursu'd.

15.

In Curses (for in them his heart
Delighted,) let him bear his part,
Dread Spectacle! a foe profest
To Blessing, and himself unblest.

16.

Himself he veils in cursings dire,
That, sprung from Hell-enkindled sire;
Like water shall his bowels rend,
Like oil into his bones descend:

17.

Fast as his vesture to his side
Still let them cleave, by Thee applied,
And, o'er his loyns for ever bound,
In painful cincture wrap him round.

18.

Such recompence my Foe shall claim;
Such All who blast with lies my fame;
But let thy Grace on Me bestow'd
Thy Name exalt, immortal God.

19.

Thy Love (how sweet that Love!) reveal,
And stretch the hand my heart to heal,
That fainting pours th' incessant groan,
And sorrows deepest wounds has known.

20.

To Life's last verge, impell'd by woe,
Fast as the flitting shade I go;
Chac'd as the Locust see me roam,
My strength by hunger's force o'ercome.

21.

While thus within my wasted frame
Sinks, half extinct, the vital flame,
Reproaching foes, around me spread,
With haughtiest triumph shake the head.

22.

Thy wonted Clemency bestow;
And give them, mightiest Lord, to know
Thy Care extended to my aid,
Thy Pow'r in their repulse display'd.

23.

Though curs'd by Them, yet bless me Thou
O teach their stubborn hearts to bow;
And let their rage by Thee suppress'd
With grateful transport fill my breast.

24.

On each who calls himself my foe
Let shame its thickest mantle throw;
Let black disgrace their name o'erspread,
Who aim their curses at my head:

25.

While I, amid th' assembled Throng,
Raise to my God the ceaseless song,
Who, constant at his side, the Poor
From lawless judgment shall secure.