Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ANTHEMES FOR THE CATHEDRAL OF EXCETER: 3, by JOSEPH HALL


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ANTHEMES FOR THE CATHEDRAL OF EXCETER: 3, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Leave o my soul this baser world below
Last Line: Allelujahs to heavens king.
Subject(s): Courts & Courtiers; Death; Heaven; Life; Soul; Trees; Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Queens; Dead, The; Paradise


Leave O my soul this baser World below,
O leave this dolefull dungeon of wo,
And soare aloft to that supernal rest
That maketh all the Saints and Angels blest:
Lo there the God-heads radiant throne,
Like to ten thousand Suns in one!

Lo there thy Saviour dear in glory dight
Ador'd of all the powers of Heavens bright:
Lo where that head that bled with thorny wound,
Shines ever with celestial honor crownd:
That hand that held the scornfull reed
Makes all the fiends infernall dread.

That back and side that ran with bloody streams
Daunt Angels eyes with their majestick beames;
Those feet once fastened to the cursed tree
Trample on death and hell, in glorious glee.
Those lips once drench't with gall do make
With their dread doom the world to quake.

Behold those joyes thou never canst behold;
Those precious gates of pearl, those Streets of gold,
Those streams of Life, those trees of Paradise
That never can be seen by mortal eyes:
And when thou seest this state divine,
Think that it is or shall be thine.

See there the happy troups of purest sprights
That live above in endless true delights;
And see where once thy self shalt ranged be,
And look and long for immortalitie:
And now before-hand help to sing
Allelujahs to Heavens King.





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