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. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LWONESOMENESS by WILLIAM BARNES SOTTO VOCE; TO EDWARD THOMAS by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE DIBDIN'S GHOST by EUGENE FIELD WHEN ON THE MARGE OF EVENING by LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEY THE PERSIANS (PERSAE): XERXES DEFEATED by AESCHYLUS THE WAY OF SACRIFICE by MATTHEW ARNOLD TO HIS FRIEND THE AUTHOR UPON HIS POEM by CHRISTOPHER BROOKE |