Written on Board the Prison Ship Medway, off the Island of St. Paul’s,
March, 1825.
COME, heavenly Muse, descend
From Zion’s holy hill:
Thy sacred inspiration lend,
That all I sing may only tend
To work thy heavenly will!
No foolish vain desire
Of glory fills my brain:
I ask not Young’s seraphic fire;
I ask not Milton’s lofty lyre
To breathe for me again.
Mine is an humbler sphere,
And mine are humbler themes;
Mine is the drooping heart to cheer
With hope of Heaven, when troubled here
Amid life’s fitful dreams.
And mine the sinner’s soul
To fill with timely fear;
His lawless passions to control,
And check him ere he reach the goal
Of Ruin’s wild career.
And mine the youth to teach
Wisdom’s far happier way;
That pure in action, thought and speech,
Australia’s hopeful sons may reach
The realms of endless day.
Then, Muse of Zion, deign
To grace my feeble song;
That haply when th’ untutored swain
Awakes its unassuming strain
Australia’s vales among.
His heart may seek the God
Whom Abraham adored;
And turning from the devious road
Of error, learn to cast his load
Of guilt on Christ the Lord.
The Son of Jesse’s lyre
Could charm the soul of Saul,
When, his dark spirit roused to ire,
And filled with frenzy’s maddening fire,
His nobles fled the hall.
But a far feebler hand
May haply touch the chord
Whose deeper tone, at Heaven’s command,
Shall make the sinner’s heart expand
And turn him to the Lord.
Touched by the soothing strain,
As David swept the strings,
Saul’s visage oft grew calm again
And seemed like the unruffled main
When the sweet Zephyr sings.
But even a rustic lyre,
Struck by a tuneless hand,
May soothe the passions’ wilder fire
And lead their victim to aspire
To Zion’s peaceful land.
Then, heavenly Muse, descend
From Zion’s holy hill:
Thy sacred inspiration lend,
That all I sing may only tend
To work thy heavenly will!
(John Dunmore Lang)
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Based on Topics: God Poems, Mind Poems, Soul Poems, Youth Poems, Heaven Poems, Dreams Poems, Christianity Poems, Fire Poems, Thought & Thinking Poems, Fear Poems, Success PoemsBased on Keywords: unassuming, medway, untutored