Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PSALM 141, by SIDNEY GODOLPHIN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PSALM 141, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Lord, hear the prayer thou dost inspire
Last Line: Who these malicious dangers set.


LORD, hear the Prayer thou dost inspire,
O Lord, direct both my desire,
And the success; O may my cries,
Like thy commanded incense, rise
On precious sweetness; may my prayer
Be purer than the common air:
May it be like the offering,
Which thankful souls at evening bring,
When they unfeigned devotions pay,
For the past dangers of the day:
Let nothing (henceforth) that is vain
My consecrated lips profane.
Hallow my heart, and guard the door,
Make me thy Temple evermore;
Let not the beauty of a sin
Tempt me to let such poison in;
Nor let the erring multitude,
For company, my soul delude;
Let me not perish, in their praise,
But let the righteous, in thy ways
Guide me, and may I thank the hand,
Although severed, by which I stand:
But let not precious balms be spilt,
Only to search not heal the guilt;
Give me the ballast of just fear,
But do not sink me in despair:
Grant rather that I may extend
My prayers for others, that the end
Even of the wicked may prevent
Their everlasting punishment:
They to my words will give arresse,
When broken by their wickedness,
Fall'n from the heights they stood upon
Built in Imagination.
Are we not all already dead?
Are we not like bones scattered
Before the grave's mouth, spent and worn,
Seized by a long corruption?
Lord, from this grave I turn mine eye
To thy blest immortality;
O may the soul thou didst create,
Praise thee in her eternal state;
Guide me through all the treachery,
And snares of my mortality;
Let not my soul be made their prey,
Who strew temptations in my way,
But be they caught in their own net,
Who these malicious dangers set.





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