WORLD, adieu, thou real cheat! Oft have thy deceitful charms Fill'd my heart with fond conceit, Foolish hopes, and false alarms: Now I see, as clear as day, How thy follies pass away. Vain thy entertaining sights; False thy promises renew'd; All the pomp of thy delights Does but flatter and delude: Thee I quit for Heav'n above, Object of the noblest love. Farewell honour's empty pride! Thy own nice, uncertain gust, If the least mischance betide, Lays thee lower than the dust: Worldly honours end in gall, Rise to-day, to-morrow fall. Foolish vanity, farewell! More inconstant than the wave; Where thy soothing fancies dwell, Purest tempers they deprave: He, to whom I fly from thee, JESUS CHRIST, shall set me free. Never shall my wandering mind Follow after fleeting toys; Since in GOD alone I find Solid and substantial joys: Joys that, never overpast, Thro' enternity shall last. Lord, how happy is a Heart, After Thee while it aspires! True and faithful as thou art, Thou shall answer its desires: It shalt see the glorious scene Of thy everlasting reign. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MIDSUMMER FROST (2) by ISAAC ROSENBERG THE SALZBURG CHIMES by HENRY ALFORD THE NIGHTINGALE THAT WAS DROWNED by PHILIP AYRES A TRIBUTE TO DANTE by GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO AN OLD DREAM by WILLIAM STANLEY BRAITHWAITE LADY GERALDINE'S COURTSHIP by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING |