Thomas Moore- Collected Poetical Works

by Thomas Moore

  And the garland of Love was yet fresh on her brow.

  Oh, then was her moment, dear spirit, for flying

  From this gloomy world, while its gloom was unknown —

  And the wild hymns she warbled so sweetly, in dying,

  Were echoed in Heaven by lips like her own.

  Weep not for her — in her springtime she flew

  To that land where the wings of the soul are unfurled;

  And now, like a star beyond evening’s cold dew,

  Looks radiantly down on the tears of this world.

  1 This second verse, which I wrote long after the first, alludes to the fate of a very lovely and amiable girl, the daughter of the late Colonel Bainbrigge, who was married in Ashbourne church, October 81, 1815, and died of a fever in a few weeks after. The sound of her marriage-bells seemed scarcely out of our ears when we heard of her death. During her last delirium she sung several hymns, in a voice even clearer and sweeter than usual, and among them were some from the present collection, (particularly, “There’s nothing bright but Heaven,”) which this very interesting girl had often heard me sing during the summer.

  THE TURF SHALL BE MY FRAGRANT SHRINE.

  (AIR. — STEVENSON.)

  The turf shall be my fragrant shrine;

  My temple, LORD! that Arch of thine;

  My censer’s breath the mountain airs,

  And silent thoughts my only prayers.

  My choir shall be the moonlight waves,

  When murmuring homeward to their caves,

  Or when the stillness of the sea,

  Even more than music dreams of Thee!

  I’ll seek, by day, some glade unknown,

  All light and silence, like thy Throne;

  And the pale stars shall be, at night,

  The only eyes that watch my rite.

  Thy Heaven, on which ’tis bliss to look,

  Shall be my pure and shining book,

  Where I shall read, in words of flame,

  The glories of thy wondrous name.

  I’ll read thy anger in the rack

  That clouds awhile the day-beam’s track;

  Thy mercy in the azure hue

  Of sunny brightness, breaking thro’.

  There’s nothing bright, above, below,

  From flowers that bloom to stars that glow,

  But in its light my soul can see

  Some feature of thy Deity:

  There’s nothing dark, below, above,

  But in its gloom I trace thy Love,

  And meekly wait that moment, when

  Thy touch shall turn all bright again!

  SOUND THE LOUD TIMBREL. MIRIAM’S SONG.

  (AlR. — AVISON.)1

  “And Miriam, the Prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in

  her band; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with

  dances.”

  — Exod. xv. 20.

  Sound the loud Timbrel o’er Egypt’s dark sea!

  JEHOVAH has triumphed — his people are free.

  Sing — for the pride of the Tyrant is broken,

  His chariots, his horsemen, all splendid and brave —

  How vain was their boast, for the LORD hath but spoken,

  And chariots and horsemen are sunk in the wave.

  Sound the loud Timbrel o’er Egypt’s dark sea;

  JEHOVAH has triumphed — his people are free.

  Praise to the Conqueror, praise to the LORD!

  His word was our arrow, his breath was our sword —

  Who shall return to tell Egypt the story

  Of those she sent forth in the hour of her pride?

  For the LORD hath looked out from his pillar of glory,2

  And all her brave thousands are dashed in the tide.

  Sound the loud Timbrel o’er Egypt’s dark sea,

  JEHOVAH has triumphed — his people are free!

  1 I have so much altered the character of this air, which is from the beginning of one of Avison’s old-fashioned concertos, that, without this acknowledgment, it could hardly, I think, be recognized.

  2 “And it came to pass, that, in the morning watch the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians, through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians.” — Exod. xiv. 24.

  GO, LET ME WEEP.

  (AIR. — STEVENSON.)

  Go, let me weep — there’s bliss in tears,

  When he who sheds them inly feels

  Some lingering stain of early years

  Effaced by every drop that steals.

  The fruitless showers of worldly woe

  Fall dark to earth and never rise;

  While tears that from repentance flow,

  In bright exhalement reach the skies.

  Go, let me weep.

  Leave me to sigh o’er hours that flew

  More idly than the summer’s wind,

  And, while they past, a fragrance threw,

  But left no trace of sweets behind. —

  The warmest sigh that pleasure heaves

  Is cold, is faint to those that swell

  The heart where pure repentance grieves

  O’er hours of pleasure, loved too well.

  Leave me to sigh.

  COME NOT, OH LORD.

  (AIR. — HAYDN.)

  Come not, oh LORD, in the dread robe of splendor

  Thou worest on the Mount, in the day of thine ire;

  Come veiled in those shadows, deep, awful, but tender,

  Which Mercy flings over thy features of fire!

  LORD, thou rememberest the night, when thy Nation1

  Stood fronting her Foe by the red-rolling stream;

  O’er Egypt thy pillar shed dark desolation,

  While Israel basked all the night in its beam.

  So, when the dread clouds of anger enfold Thee,

  From us, in thy mercy, the dark side remove;

  While shrouded in terrors the guilty behold Thee,

  Oh, turn upon us the mild light of thy Love!

  1 “And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these” — Exod. xiv. 20.

  WERE NOT THE SINFUL MARY’S TEARS.

  (AIR. — STEVENSON.)

  Were not the sinful Mary’s tears

  An offering worthy Heaven,

  When, o’er the faults of former years,

  She wept — and was forgiven?

  When, bringing every balmy sweet

  Her day of luxury stored,

  She o’er her Saviour’s hallowed feet

  The precious odors poured; —

  And wiped them with that golden hair,

  Where once the diamond shone;

  Tho’ now those gems of grief were there

  Which shine for GOD alone!

  Were not those sweets, so humbly shed —

  That hair — those weeping eyes —

  And the sunk heart, that inly bled —

  Heaven’s noblest sacrifice?

  Thou that hast slept in error’s sleep,

  Oh, would’st thou wake in Heaven,

  Like Mary kneel, like Mary weep,

  “Love much” and be forgiven!1

  1 “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much.” — St. Luke, vii.47.

  AS DOWN IN THE SUNLESS RETREATS.

  (AIR. — HAYDN.)

  As down in the sunless retreats of the Ocean,

  Sweet flowers are springing no mortal can see,

  So, deep in my soul the still prayer of devotion,

  Unheard by the world, rises silent to Thee,

  My God! silent to Thee —

  Pure, warm, silent, to Thee,

  As still to the star of its worship, tho’ clouded,

  The needle points faithfully o’er the dim sea,

  So, dark as I roam, in this wintry world shrouded,

  The hope of my spirit turns trembling to Thee,


  My GOD! trembling to Thee —

  True, fond, trembling, to Thee.

  BUT WHO SHALL SEE.

  (AIR. — STEVENSON.)

  But who shall see the glorious day

  When, throned on Zion’s brow,

  The LORD shall rend that veil away

  Which hides the nations now?1

  When earth no more beneath the fear

  Of this rebuke shall lie;2

  When pain shall cease, and every tear

  Be wiped from every eye.3

  Then, Judah, thou no more shall mourn

  Beneath the heathen’s chain;

  Thy days of splendor shall return,

  And all be new again.4

  The Fount of Life shall then be quaft

  In peace, by all who come;5

  And every wind that blows shall waft

  Some long-lost exile home.

  1 “And he will destroy, in this mountain, the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.” — Isaiah, xxv. 7.

  2 “The rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth.” — Isaiah, xxv. 8.

  3 “And GOD shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; neither shall there be any more pain.” — Rev. xxi:4.

  4 “And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.” — Rev. xxi. 5.

  5 “And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” — Rev. xxii. 17.

  ALMIGHTY GOD!

  CHORUS OF PRIESTS.

  (AIR. — MOZART.)

  Almighty GOD! when round thy shrine

  The Palm-tree’s heavenly branch we twine,1

  (Emblem of Life’s eternal ray,

  And Love that “fadeth not away,”)

  We bless the flowers, expanded all,2

  We bless the leaves that never fall,

  And trembling say,— “In Eden thus

  “The Tree of Life may flower for us!”

  When round thy Cherubs — smiling calm,

  Without their flames — we wreathe the Palm.

  Oh God! we feel the emblem true —

  Thy Mercy is eternal too,

  Those Cherubs, with their smiling eyes,

  That crown of Palm which never dies,

  Are but the types of Thee above —

  Eternal Life, and Peace, and Love!

  1 “The Scriptures having declared that the Temple of Jerusalem was a type of the Messiah, it is natural to conclude that the Palms, which made so conspicuous a figure in that structure, represented that Life and Immortality which were brought to light by the Gospel.”— “Observations on the Palm, as a sacred Emblem,” by W. Tighe.

  2 “And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubim, and palm-trees, and open flowers.” — 1 Kings, VI. 29.

  OH FAIR! OH PUREST!

  SAINT AUGUSTINE TO HIS SISTER.

  (AIR. — MOORE)

  Oh fair! oh purest! be thou the dove

  That flies alone to some sunny grove,

  And lives unseen, and bathes her wing,

  All vestal white, in the limpid spring.

  There, if the hovering hawk be near,

  That limpid spring in its mirror clear

  Reflects him ere he reach his prey

  And warns the timorous bird away,

  Be thou this dove;

  Fairest, purest, be thou this dove,

  The sacred pages of God’s own book

  Shall be the spring, the eternal brook,

  In whose holy mirror, night and day,

  Thou’lt study Heaven’s reflected ray; —

  And should the foes of virtue dare,

  With gloomy wing, to seek thee there,

  Thou wilt see how dark their shadows lie

  Between Heaven and thee, and trembling fly!

  Be thou that dove;

  Fairest, purest, be thou that dove.

  ANGEL OF CHARITY.

  (AIR. — HANDEL)

  Angel of Charity, who, from above,

  Comest to dwell a pilgrim here,

  Thy voice is music, thy smile is love,

  And Pity’s soul is in thy tear.

  When on the shrine of God were laid

  First-fruits of all most good and fair,

  That ever bloomed in Eden’s shade,

  Thine was the holiest offering there.

  Hope and her sister, Faith, were given

  But as our guides to yonder sky;

  Soon as they reach the verge of heaven,

  There, lost in perfect bliss, they die.

  But, long as Love, Almighty Love,

  Shall on his throne of thrones abide,

  Thou, Charity, shalt dwell above,

  Smiling for ever by His side!

  BEHOLD THE SUN.

  (AIR. — LORD MORNINGTON.)

  Behold the Sun, how bright

  From yonder East he springs,

  As if the soul of life and light

  Were breathing from his wings.

  So bright the Gospel broke

  Upon the souls of men;

  So fresh the dreaming world awoke

  In Truth’s full radiance then.

  Before yon Sun arose,

  Stars clustered thro’ the sky —

  But oh how dim, how pale were those,

  To His one burning eye!

  So Truth lent many a ray,

  To bless the Pagan’s night —

  But, Lord, how weak, how cold were they

  To Thy One glorious Light!

  LORD, WHO SHALL BEAR THAT DAY.

  (AIR. — DR. BOYCE.)

  Lord, who shall bear that day, so dread, so splendid,

  When we shall see thy Angel hovering o’er

  This sinful world with hand to heaven extended,

  And hear him swear by Thee that time’s no more?1

  When Earth shall feel thy fast consuming ray —

  Who, Mighty God, oh who shall bear that day?

  When thro’ the world thy awful call hath sounded —

  “Wake, all ye Dead, to judgment wake, ye Dead!”

  And from the clouds, by seraph eyes surrounded,

  The Saviour shall put forth his radiant head;2

  While Earth and Heaven before Him pass away3 —

  Who, Mighty God, oh who shall bear that day?

  When, with a glance, the Eternal Judge shall sever

  Earth’s evil spirits from the pure and bright,

  And say to those, “Depart from me for ever!”

  To these, “Come, dwell with me in endless light!”4

  When each and all in silence take their way —

  Who, Mighty God, oh who shall bear that day?

  1 And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven, and swear by Him that liveth for ever and ever…that there should be time no longer.” — Rev. x. 5, 6.

  2 “They shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven — and all the angels with him.” — Matt. xxiv. 90, and xxv. 80.

  3 “From whose face the earth and the heaven fled away.” — Rev. xx. ii.

  4 “And before Him shall be gathered all nations, and He shall separate them one from another.

  “Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you, etc.

  “Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, etc.

  “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal.”

  — Matt xxv. 32, et seq.

  OH, TEACH ME TO LOVE THEE.

  (AIR. — HAYDN.)

  Oh, teach me to love Thee, to feel what thou art,

  Till, filled with the one sacred image, my heart

  Shall all other passions disown;

  Like some pure temple that shines apart,

  Reserved for Thy worship alone.

  In joy and in sorrow, thro’ praise and thro�
� blame,

  Thus still let me, living and dying the same,

  In Thy service bloom and decay —

  Like some lone altar whose votive flame

  In holiness wasteth away.

  Tho’ born in this desert, and doomed by my birth

  To pain and affliction, to darkness and dearth,

  On Thee let my spirit rely —

  Like some rude dial, that, fixt on earth,

  Still looks for its light from the sky.

  WEEP, CHILDREN OF ISRAEL.

  (AIR. — STEVENSON.)

  Weep, weep for him, the Man of God — 1

  In yonder vale he sunk to rest;

  But none of earth can point the sod2

  That flowers above his sacred breast.

  Weep, children of Israel, weep!

  His doctrine fell like Heaven’s rain.3

  His words refreshed like Heaven’s dew —

  Oh, ne’er shall Israel see again

  A Chief, to GOD and her so true.

  Weep, children of Israel, weep!

  Remember ye his parting gaze,

  His farewell song by Jordan’s tide,

  When, full of glory and of days,

  He saw the promised land — and died.4

  Weep, children of Israel, weep!

  Yet died he not as men who sink,

  Before our eyes, to soulless clay;

  But, changed to spirit, like a wink

  Of summer lightning, past away.5

  Weep, children of Israel, weep!

  1 “And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab.” — Deut. xxxiv, 8.

  2 “And, he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab…but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.” — Ibid. ver. 6.

  3 “My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew.” — Moses’ Song.

  4 “I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither.” — Deut. xxxiv. 4.

  5 “As he was going to embrace Eleazer and Joshua, and was still discoursing with them, a cloud stood over him on the sudden, and he disappeared in a certain valley, although he wrote in the Holy Books that he died, which was done out of fear, lest they should venture to say that, because of his extraordinary virtue, he went to GOD.” — Josephus, book iv. chap. viii.