Adoration
Sweet is the dew that falls betimes,
And drops upon the leafy limes;
Sweet Hermon’s fragrant air:
Sweet is the lily’s silver bell,
And sweet the wakeful tapers smell
That watch for early prayer.
Sweet the young nurse, with love intense,
Which smiles o’er sleeping innocence;
Sweet when the lost arrive;
Sweet the musician’s ardor beats,
While his vague mind’s in quest of sweets,
The choicest flowers to hive.
Strong is the horse upon his speed;
Strong in pursuit the rapid glede,
Which makes at once his game:
Strong the tall ostrich on the ground;
Strong through the turbulent profound
Shoots xiphias to his aim.
Strong is the lion—like a coal
His eyeball—like a bastion’s mole
His chest against the foes:
Strong the gier-eagle on his sail;
Strong against tide the enormous whale
Emerges as he goes.
But stronger still, in earth and air,
And in sea, the man of prayer,
And far beneath the tide:
And in the seat to Faith assign’d,
Where ask is, have; where seek is, find;
Where knock is, open wide.
—C. Smart