Works

I.

Come, God, Creator, Holy Ghost,
Visit the heart of all thy men;
Fill them with grace the way thou know'st:
What was thine, make so again;

Our Comforter to soothe or chide;...

Poems are painted window-panes:
Look from the square into the church--
Gloom and dusk are all your gains!
Sir Philistine is left in the lurch:
Outside he stands--spies nothing or use of it,...

Psyche moans, in deep-sunk, darksome prison,
For redemption; ah! for light she aches;
Fears, hopes, after every noise doth listen--
Whether Fate her bars of iron breaks.
...

In peace and joy I now depart,
For God hath willed it.
Comforted is my mind and heart,
For he hath stilled it;
As my God did promise me,
Death is grown only slumber.
...

Although the fools say with their mouth:
Great God, we magnify him;
Their heart cares nothing for the truth,
In action they deny him.
Their being is corrupted quite;
To God it is a horrid sight;...

Our God he is a castle strong,
A good mail-coat and weapon;
He sets us free from every wrong
That wickedness would heap on.
The ancient wicked foe
He means earnest now;
Force and cunning sly...

From trouble deep I cry to thee;
Lord God, hear thou my crying;
Thy gracious ear oh turn to me,
Open it to thy sighing.
For if thou mean'st to look upon
The wrong and evil that is done,...

Happy who in God's fear doth stay,
And in it goeth on his way;
Thine own hand thee shall find thy food,
So liv'st thou right, and all is good.

So shall thy wife be, in thy house,...

Were God not with us all the time--
Israel may loud declare it--
Were God not with us all the time,
We must have now despaired;
For we are such a little flock
Despised by such a crowd of folk,...

Our Father in the heaven who art,
Who tellest all of us, in heart
Brothers to be, and on thee call,
And wilt have prayer from us all--
Grant, not from mouth alone it flow;...

Would that the Lord would grant us grace,
And in his volume write us!
With its clear shining let his face
To life eternal light us;
That we may know his work at length,
And what men him have faith in;...

The first Choir.--Lord God, thee praise do we.
The second Choir.--Lord, we give thanks to thee.

1. Thee, Father, eternal God,
2. Earth praises, far and broad.
1. All angels and heaven's host,...

Ah God, from heaven look down and view;
Let it thy pity waken;
Behold thy saints how very few!
We wretches are forsaken.
Thy word they grant nor true nor right,
And faith is thus extinguished quite...

You have two ears--and but one mouth:
Let this, friend, be a token--
Much should be heard, and not so much
Be spoken.

You have two eyes--and but one mouth:
That is an indication--...

A DIALOGUE BETWEEN TOM AND ROBIN[1]
1730

Tom.
Say, Robin, what can Traulus[2] mean
By bellowing thus against the Dean?
Why does he call him paltry scribbler,...

Traulus, of amphibious breed,
Motley fruit of mongrel seed;
By the dam from lordlings sprung.
By the sire exhaled from dung:
Think on every vice in both,
Look on him, and see their growth....

1. Through cycles of darkness the diamond sleeps in its coal-black prison.

2. Purely incrusted in its scaly casket, the breath-tarnished pearl slumbers in mud and ooze.
...

The young and old came to a poet in a crowd,
The house is already Filled with guests.
The poet took them to the magnificent garden
That he grew up nearby his heart.
Then, so that the guests enjoy themselves,...

I. TO WERTHER.


Once more, then, much-wept shadow, thou dost dare

Boldly to face the day's clear light,
To meet me on fresh blooming meadows fair,

And dost not tremble at my sight....

Out of the night arose the second day,
And saw the ship's bows break the shoreward spray.
As the sun's boat of gold and fire began
To sail the sea of heaven unsailed of man,...