Classic Poem

1.

To Thee I call; O haste thee near,
My voice, great God, indulgent hear;
Extend thy powerful arm, and save
My soul from the voracious wave.

2.

In depths of mire behold me bound;
In vain my sinking feet the ground
Explore; while high above my head
The whelming floods their billows spread.

3.

Faint are my limbs, my palate dry,
While ceaseless to my God I cry;
With wasting orbs my eyes attend
To see his promis'd grace descend.

4.

Behold my Foes around me spread,
The hairs that shade my hapless head
Outnumb'ring; Foes, that, arm'd with pow'r,
My soul have labour'd to devour;

5.

Yet pure of each offence I stand,
Plight to their terms my willing hand,
Nor shun (Extortion's easy prey,)
The wrong-imputed debt to pay.

6.

To Thee, my God, to Thee alone
The errors of my heart are known:
Thine eyes my inmost guilt have view'd,
Nor can my thought thy search elude.

7.

O let not, heav'nly Lord, thine aid
Thus long to my request delay'd
Their hope to hostile scorn consign,
Whose hearts on Israel 's God recline.

8.

Thy Cause, by Me avow'd, my fame
To insult gives, my cheek to shame:
The impious mockers on me gaze,
Each eye, each lip contempt betrays.

9.

Domestic Wrath and kindred Hate,
In thy defence, my soul await;
The Brothers of my blood in Me
An Alien and an Outcast see.

10.

The zeal that to thy house I bear
My soul consumes; each taunt severe
That loud-tongu'd Rage for Thee intends,
On Me with fullest weight descends.

11.

Dissolv'd in tears, with fasting worn,
What obloquy my soul has borne!
My loins with sorrow's garb o'erspread
With jests their cruel fancy fed:

12.

I pass the crouded gate, pursu'd
By laughter and reproaches rude,
The proverb of the Drunkard's tongue,
And theme familiar of his song.

13.

O let me in th'accepted hour
In pray'r to Thee my spirit pour;
Thine ear in full accordance bend,
And pleas'd thy promis'd help extend.

14.

Snatch from the miry depths my feet;
Back let my furious foes retreat,
Safe from their hate thy Servant keep,
Nor leave him sinking in the deep.

15.

O then the swelling storm assuage,
Ere yet the flood's remorseless rage
In dreadful whirlpools wrap me round,
And plunge me in the dark profound.

16.

Hear, Lord, and to my soul display
Thy Mercy's all-enliv'ning ray;
Look down, eternal God, look down,
Behold me, but without a frown:

17.

Ne'er to thy Servant's longing eye
Thy face, amidst my woes, deny,
Haste to my aid, O haste thee near,
Release my soul from hostile fear.

18.

Thine ears have heard each insult keen,
Thine eyes, just Lord, my shame have seen,
And stedfast mark'd the adverse Band,
That leagu'd in guilt around me stand.

19.

My soul, by evil tongues assail'd,
Unequal to the conflict sail'd:
I wish'd, in vain, some friend to find,
Whose voice might soothe my troubled mind.

20.

These, 'mid the Croud that wait me nigh,
Gall to my loathing lips apply;
While These my thirst's afflictive rage
With juice of sharpest taste assuage.

21.

While pleas'd the social board they share,
Let Death around it plant a snare,
And what should bliss and health bestow
With aim inverted work their woe.

22.

Let blindness check their fell designs,
Bow with affliction's weight their loins,
And let thy Wrath, with loosen'd rein,
Descending crush the rebel Train.

23.

Let Horror and Destruction drear
Amid their tents the standard rear,
Nor human habitant be found
Within their dome's capacious round:

24.

Since, unprovok'd, with murth'rous view,
Whom Thou hast smitten they pursue,
And seek, instinct with cruel joy,
The Man of sorrows to destroy.

25.

Let Each (for nought their hearts could bend)
From depth to depth in sin descend,
Ne'er, touch'd by healing Mercy, see
The path that leads to Bliss and Thee;

26.

Let vengeance, kindled to a flame,
Blot from the earth their hateful name,
Nor let them, 'mid thy chosen Band,
In life's fair page recorded stand.

27.

And O! while press'd with ills I lie,
Cast on my state a pitying eye,
And let thy Mercy to my grief
In full sufficience yield relief.

28.

For this to Thee my voice I rear;
Nor shall the hoof'd and horned Steer,
New draughted from the sat'ning field,
A Sacrifice so grateful yield.

29.

Ye humble Souls, that seek his aid,
His Love, in my release display'd,
His Love your dying hearts shall chear,
Who stoops the captive poor to hear.

30.

O praise him, Heav'n, and Seas, and Earth,
And All whom Nature wakes to birth:
Him praise, who Sion deigns to shield,
Whose hand shall Judah 's Cities build:

31.

He bids her Sons the Land divide,
Where unmolested shall reside,
Through rolling Time's extended Year,
A Race devoted to his fear.