Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, IA [i.e. Ind.]) 1839-1854, 1841-12-25
Il . L. Il X i
From the Southern Literary Messenger for Dee.
THE PRESENCE OF con

From the Southern Literary Messenger for D
THE PRESENCE OF GOD.
Oh! Thou, who hiug's, SO fair a robe
Of clouds around the hills untrod-
Those mountain pillars Of the globe
Whose peaks sustain thy throne, Oh Cod
All %glittaring round the sunset skies
Their heecy wings arc Lightly fudcd,
As if TO shade from mortal eyes
Tine glories Of yon upper world;
There, whiis the evening star upholds,
In one brigh, spot, their purple folds,
My spin, lifts i,s silen, prayer;
For Thou. oh God of love, art there.
The summer flowers, the fair, tho sweet,
Up spriging freely from the sod,
IL whose soil looks We seem TO meet
Atevery step, thy smiles, OH God,
The hIInblest soul their sweetness shares,
They bloom in palace hall or cot;
Give me, oh Lord, n heart like theirs,
Contented with my losIy lot;
Withins their bright ambrosial bells
In odors sweet thy spirit dwslls;
Their breath may seem to scent the air
IT'S thine, oh God! for thou arr there.
Hark. from yon easement low aud dim,
What sounds are those that FIJI tive brseze?
Il is the peasants evening hymn
Arrests the fisher on the seas;
The old man leans his silver hairs
Upoa his light suspended car,
Until ,hose soft delicious airs
Have died like riPfles on the shore.
why do his eyes il sof,res3 roll!
What melts tho manhood from his soul7
His heart is filled with peace and prayer;
For Thou, oh God, artwith him there.
The birds among tho summer blooms
Pour forth to Thee their hymns OF love,
When, tire milling OIL uplifted pluInes,
They leave the earth, and soar above,
We hear their sweet familiar airs
Where e'er a sunny spot is found:
How lovely is a life like theirs,
Dihusing sweetness all around!
From cline to cline, from pole to pole,
Their sweetest anthems softly roll;
'Till, melting on the realms Of air,
They reach Thy throne in grateful prayer.
These sturs-those floating isles of light,
Round which the clouds unfurl their sails,
Pure as a woman's robe of white
Ahdk SIioi vi XIX ibI III 5 N0ic
They touch tho heart as with n spell,
Yet set the soa ring fancy free:
And OH. how sweet the tales they tell
OF faith, of peace, of love, aud Thee.
Each raging storm that wildly blows,
Each balmy breeze that lifts the rose,
S%ublinely grand, or softly fair
They speak of Thee, for Thou art there.
'Tha snf,;, a, opnrazt rit, 1n.hf
May strive to cast Thee from its thought.
Blu, who can shut Thy presence out,
Thou mighty Guest that contest unsoughs!
In spite of all our cold resolves,
Magnetic-like, where'er we be,
Still, stilI the thoughtful heart revolves
And points, all trembling up to Thee.
We caunot shield q troubled breast
Beneath the confines of the blest-
Above, below, on earth, in air,
For Thou, the living God, ar. there.
Yet, far beyond the clouds outspread,
Where soaring Fancy of, hath been,
There is n land. where ThoL hast said
The pure in heart shall enter in;
There, in those realms 50 calmly bright,
How many a loved and gentle one
Battle their soft plumes in living light
That sparkles from Thy radiant throne!
There, souls once soft and sad as ours
Look up and sing mid fadeless flowers:
They dream no more of grief and care.
For Thou, the God of peace, art there.
Louisville, Ky. AWE