Paraphrased From David’s Psalms.
Psalm XIX.
THE arched heavens ere since the birth of time
Instruct the earth, in characters sublime,
To read aloft with sudden glance,
Whose hand stretch’d out the blue expanse;
Who bade the stars blaze forth from pole to pole,
And all beneath his high dominion roll.
What swelling anthem can his praise resound,
Like this grand concert of th’ etherial round?
What dulcet symphonies can boast
The music of the glittering host?
What instrumental harmony afford
Such measur’d cadence, and divine accord?
All Nature’s finger eloquently shows
His wond’rous might in every wind that blows;
His pow’r the beams of day declare,
Still evening, and the midnight air;
The clouds that darken his majestic feet,
Shout it with voices audible and sweet.
Th’ enthroned Sun, in his high flaming course,
A spark compar’d to his almighty source,
When first his orient beams adorn
The rosy blush that wakes the morn,
Through heaven’s high bounds proclaims the Lord Supreme,
And writes his name on ev’ry glorious beam.
The universe, obsequious at His nod,
Sprung up before the presence of its God;
Swift to their various orbs retire
The earth, the air, the flood, the fire!
He fill’d the Moon with unexhausted light,
And bade her wander through the gloom of night.
O how, great Ruler of the earth and sky!
Thy lovely works allure the gazer’s eye!
O happiest of the sons of men,
Who view thee with celestial ken;
Who tread undeviating thy heavenly ways,
Pure, holy, just, and lavish in thy praise!
The fear of thee, great God! inspires the good
To make thy law their intellectual food;
It is this sacred voice of truth
That guides old age and infant youth;
The triumph sweet that galls the deadly foe,
Since sin first planted all the seeds of woe.
O give me, Lord! thy glorious tracks to see,
To find my solace and delight in thee;
To feel that holy fear within,
That makes it agony to sin;
Thy laws are amiable and sweet indeed,
As virgin honey from the flowery mead!
But, God omnipotent! without thy grace
What man the windings of his heart can trace?
Can say what deed from virtue springs?
Where vanity displays her wings?
Where first begin the clouds of guilt to roll,
O’ercasting all the lustre of his soul?
O Thou, who erst on David’s holiest lyre,
Didst dart thy sacred vehemence of fire,
Come, teach me to reveal thy ways,
And scatter round a dazzling blaze;
Unfolding bright, inspir’d with silent awe,
Th’ unclouded prospect of thy heavenly law!
Psalm XV.
WHO shall unblam’d before thy face appear,
Within thy sanctuary, Eternal King?
Who dare to mingle in thy heavenly sphere,
And bask beneath the splendor of thy wing?
‘Tis he who loves thy absolute controul,
Who, pure in converse, is as pure within;
Who gives due tendance to the precious soul,
Nor knows the sore disquiet of a sin.
Who courts obscurity and shrinks from fame;
Who, calm and mild, is resolute to bleed
Ere make fair virtue veil her eyes with shame,
Or blot the dictates of his holiest creed.
He who lights up the darkness of his youth,
With the bright stars that in thy volumes glow;
Who dares to give free utterance to truth,
Beneath the frowns of a tyrannic foe.
He in whose eye the men of name appear,
If pride and scorn uplift their glorious head,
When glittering in their elevated sphere,
More abject than the vilest worm we tread.
But when the good, too noble to repine,
Doom’d to rude conflict with perpetual strife,
In lowliness majestic and divine,
Bear undeserv’d the cruel stings of life;
No eye so prompt to succour and bewail,
Or shed soft tears at every melting tale.
Psalm XLIX.
AWAKE , arise, ye circling nations, hear!
O Universe, give audience to my lay!
Let royalty attend with list’ning ear,
And bow submiss to truth’s imperial sway.
Heaven’s holy Spirit breathes upon my lyre,
And cheers the fainting courage of my soul;
The truths I sing no mortal tongues inspire,
From heaven’s high fount the sacred numbers roll.
Proud man has wav’d his banners in the air,
Drunk with high mind, and boastful of renown;
But oh! the rending moments of despair,
When death shall sink the gorgeous triumph down.
Speak ye who, swelling with the pomp of gold,
Estrang’d from heaven your guilty rev’llings keep;
What grasping arms shall your lov’d wealth enfold,
When plung’d from splendor to the gloomy deep?
‘Midst the gay friends, that glitter in your sight
To heal the anguish of each guilty deed;
Where the strong hand that, to retard your flight,
Bids the pale monarch check his winged speed?
Have ye not seen the giants of the world,
Bow their proud summits unrepriev’d by death?
And will ye wait till, into darkness hurl’d,
Ye mourn each hour ye draw your impious breath?
All view alike the dark and dreary cave;
All that spring up from nature’s teeming womb,
The rich, the wise, the puissant, and the brave
Shall sink to the cold solitary tomb.
Amid your pleasant palaces and groves,
Where wealth and grandeur pour the golden tide,
Already see! the greedy stranger roves,
And spurns your trophies with exulting pride.
But ye, the sport of every flatt’ring praise,
Intent alone on luxury and food,
Live on, oblivious of the heavenly rays,
And all remembrance of the fair and good.
Prone like the brute bent downward to the earth,
Ye blot the bright intelligence of man;
Ye roam unmindful of celestial birth,
Nor stretch one thought beyond this narrow span.
Slaves to the pride and emptiness of life,
Alone reflection is your deadly foe;
But when she comes, with momentary strife,
Ye veil the gulph that ever yawns below.
There shall ye dwell in cold oblivious rust,
Deaf to the sounds of perishable fame;
There in the sepulchre of mould’ring dust,
Lie the proud fabric of your tow’ring name.
But ye unblam’d adorers of a God!
Whom wonder lifts beyond all thoughts sublime,
Shall live o’ershadow’d from th’ avenging rod,
When judgment falls upon the sons of crime.
Psalm L.
HEAVEN’S matchless King with dreadful ire
Descends upon the wings of fire;
The lightning flashes in his path,
His thund’rous voice denounces wrath!
He comes, he comes! with furious sweep,
And frights the fountains of the deep!
O ye, who o’er his host preside,
Priests of the Lord, his people’s guide!
Go, separate th’ unholy train
Of spirits variable and vain;
Eject them from th’ untainted seed
That shudder at a foul misdeed.
Not blood in sacrifices spilt
Can wash away the stains of guilt;
Where malice, fraud, and guile abound,
Not large wine-offerings pour’d around
Can e’er the great JEHOVAH charm,
Or check the thunder of his arm.
Wants he the blood of lamb or goat,
Or loves to see the gushing throat?
Can his pure eye delighted feast
On fumes that mount from slaughter’d beast?
Or can an empty prayer assuage
His inextinguishable rage?
Shall he, who gave creation birth,
Wait off’rings from the sons of earth;
For whom his band enrich’d the soil
With wine, and corn, and fatt’ning oil?
Shall he his appetite allay
With fruits that spring from dust and clay?
Shall he the gentle ear incline
To tongues that soil his hymns divine?
Or e’er one gracious smile impart
On falsehood’s double-founted heart,
That his high praise corrupted pours,
And Belial secretly adores?
Ah no! ’tis innocence alone
Mounts fragrant to his heavenly throne:
That praise is music to his ear,
That issues from a conscience clear;
But not the sin-polluted vow
Ascends to smooth JEHOVAH’S brow.
Keep then, obdurate slaves of sin,
O keep th’ unsavory praise within;
No more his solemn rites profane,
Dark-mingling in his holy train;
No more the house of God defile
With notes melodious tun’d by guile.
Ungodly crew! let sacred awe
Forbid you to extol his law;
Where truth in every spotless page
On you denounces death and rage;
And still delivers you to woe,
Though night and day your praises flow.
Ye view your neighbour’s guilt with joy,
His friend’s connubial bliss destroy:
When nightly thieves o’erleap all bound,
And spread their ravages around,
Your hearts in unison rejoice,
Your eyes betray th’ applauding voice.
Ye love the tracks of guilty feet,
Your tongues are laden with deceit;
Ye push your brethren wand’ring slow,
Swift down the precipice of woe,
And deem, that if no thunders fly,
God views you with consenting eye!
But learn, ye sin-devoted band,
No more wrath lingers in his hand!
While heedless of the gathering storm,
Crime rears her bold gigantic form,
God slumbers not, but far and wide
Shall pour his anger’s furious tide!
Come then, with innocence array’d,
And haunt his altar’s holy shade;
Repentance calms his flaming sight,
And makes the holocaust delight;
Alone th’ unspotted and sincere
Win audience from JEHOVAH’S ear.
Psalm LVIII.
STILL can ye glory that, with one accord
Bright truth inspires your souls with awe;
And live profess’d adorers of the Lord,
Familiar with his heavenly law?
Yes! ye have words of innocence at will,
And lips sweet-flowing smooth as oil;
But guile and falsehood all their bane distil
Deep in your hearts’ corrupted soil.
E’en from the womb your infant tongues rejoice
To suck the serpent’s venom’d juice;
Expert to learn the music of the voice,
That sounds to flatter and seduce.
With dark destruction ever hov’ring round,
Ye watch the tread of righteous feet;
Where’er ye move, ye undermine the ground
With plots of slander and deceit.
But oh, great God! from all their caverns deep
Drag out this lion’s murd’rous brood;
Dash down the teeth that mangle all thy sheep,
Snatch from their jaws the guiltless food!
Arise! and timely interpose thy shield,
Flashing with horror and dismay,
Drive the pale fugitives from field to field,
And melt their violence away.
Then shall blaze out the triumph of the just;
Then shall the loud hosannas charm
The God that stretch’d the giants in the dust,
With strong invulnerable arm.
Then all shall magnify his glorious name,
And without end exulting own,
JEHOVAH guides this universal frame,
And justice dwells upon his throne.
Psalm LXXII.
O GOD ! thy shadowing arm extend
Around our Monarch’s radiant throne;
For still to thee he loves to bend,
With awful reverence prone.
O let thy oracles inflame
His royal Son with heavenly fire;
To spread the glories of thy name,
With consecrated lyre!
To keep unstain’d the scepter’d pride,
And dread to violate his hand;
But pour alike th’ impartial tide
Of justice through the land.
With firm and resolute decrees,
To strip th’ oppressor’s guilty spoil,
Where pride and wealth in slothful ease
Defraud the sons of toil.
To spurn the flatterer’s supple knee
With eye that darts majestic awe;
Nor make corruption’s golden key
Th’ interpreter of law.
To scatter his life-giving smile,
Where misery pours her bitter show’r,
But crush the monsters that defile
Their delegated pow’r.
Thus shall the royal virtues flow
With streams that every bosom fill;
The palms of peace and joy shall grow,
And flourish to his will.
His sceptre with broad-spreading sway
Shall lure the nations to his yoke;
Nor check its thunders in the day
When enemies provoke.
His covering mantle shall invest
The orphan, desolate, forlorn!
And softly heal the bleeding breast
Where fortune plants a thorn.
To him the potentates of earth
Shall flock with tributary praise,
To gratulate his heavenly birth,
And view his wond’rous blaze.
Then lift, ye nations, lift the voice,
Sound, blessed be th’ Eternal’s name,
Who makes your glowing tongues rejoice
To crown a Monarch’s fame.
Psalm LXXIII.
HOW blest, great God! how enviably secure
Flows the sweet current of the virtuous life!
How happier far than all the joys that lure
Th’ ambitious progeny of strife!
And yet these eyes with jealous fires have glow’d,
And spoil’d, simplicity, thy purest springs;
When the bright confines of my dark abode
Have view’d their gaily-glitt’ring wings.
‘Twas then my tongue unknowingly exclaim’d,
O how their beams our lowly sons deface!
How their glad hearts o’erflow’d with joys unblam’d,
That sparkle in their cheerful face.
To them unknown chill sorrow and despair,
All pain and anguish of the writhing breast,
And never-ending labyrinth of care,
That still forbids the wanderer’s rest.
Perennial flow’rs encompass them around,
At ev’ry turn some tempting bliss they meet;
Still unconcern’d their sweet delights abound,
And bathe in bliss their downy feet.
But oh! the dreadful wand’ring of my soul,
Enslav’d and dazzled by so false a bane!
Unenvied now their gilded chariots roll,
For death and darkness sweep their train.
Their eyes glare lightning at the just and pure,
Their tongues are wing’d with falsities and lies;
While insolence and pride their mouths inure
To curses that appal the skies.
Their days are all in guilty revellings spent,
Pamper’d and steep’d in one luxurious show’r;
Nor rous’d from slumber, till the dark descent
Reminds them of the torturing hour.
Oft have I follow’d all the ways they trod,
And lost in wonder, ask’d with dubious eye,
“Where are the righteous judgments of my God?
“Where is the Ruler of the sky?”
But lo! the justice that dispels the gloom,
And to his altars bids me lowly trust;
I see descend the swift avenging doom,
I see the glories of the just!
Psalm LXXVI.
JEHOVAH is in Judah known!
All Israel bowing lowly down,
With hymns encompasses his throne,
And glories in his high renown.
His band has cheer’d the battle’s sight,
Withering the legions of the foe,
And thundering out of Sion bright
Laid all their towering trophies low.
The Thunderer has let loose his ire,
And deeply drench’d th’ ensanguin’d field,
And whirl’d in cataracts of fire
Their threatening arrows, spear, and shield.
Insensate crew! what hand shall dare
The Almighty’s must’ring rage provoke,
Or for his holy sons prepare
The tyrant’s meditated yoke?
Like ye shall feel his furious breath
Your close embattled ranks disturb:
Your kings, that storm with blood and death,
Shall champ th’ inevitable curb.
Psalm XCI.
HE , who beneath the shadow of thy wing
Reclines, great God! with heavenly armour clad;
Dreads not the poison of the envious sting,
Nor desperate revenges of the bad!
To him with loud or silent tread,
Let the fierce enemies advance;
Thine arm shall strike their fury dead,
Shall rive in twain the lifted lance,
Shall frustrate all their stratagems of guile,
And blackest insurrection’s towering pile.
He shall not fear the pestilence of night,
Nor the loud torrent that o’erwhelms by day;
But firmly planting all his steps aright,
Behold their arrows innocently play.
Propt up by heaven’s all-ruling Sire,
His bosom bears the sacred pledge;
He walks unhurt through flames of fire,
And smiles upon the battle’s edge!
Secure, that he who calms old ocean’s roar
Shall sink them, that they heave the head no more.
Yes! God shall give his ministers in charge
To veil him with their hov’ring wings around,
Where war’s red fiends their fiery throats enlarge,
Or couch’d in shades rend up the hollow ground:
For him th’ angelic guardians bright
Shall spread th’ inviolable bar,
And wing his solitary flight
To regions unapproach’d by war;
There, in the sun-shine of celestial praise,
To bloom and flourish, crown’d with length of days.
(Emma Lyon)
More Poetry from Emma Lyon:
Emma Lyon Poems based on Topics: Sadness, Fairness, Mind, Smiling, Life, Night, Love, Pride, Sense & Perception, Name, Friendship- An Ode On Hope (Emma Lyon Poems)
- Lines To D. F*****, Esq. Barrister (Emma Lyon Poems)
- Stanzas To The Moon (Emma Lyon Poems)
- Lines: Written to my Sister during her Passage to the West Indies (Emma Lyon Poems)
- Conclusion (Emma Lyon Poems)
- An Ode To Indifference (Emma Lyon Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Love Poems, Man Poems, God Poems, Life Poems, World Poems, Night Poems, Light Poems, Mind Poems, Sadness Poems, Time Poems, Death & Dying PoemsBased on Keywords: fugitives, ershadow, ensanguin, unspotted, lowliness, delivers, inextinguishable, invulnerable, unconcern, xlix, sun-shine