From Greenland's Icy Mountains

FROM Greenland's icy mountains,

From India's coral strand;

Where Afric's sunny fountains

Roll down their golden sand:

From many ancient rivers,

From many a palmy plain,

They call us to deliver

Their land from error's chain.

What tho' the spicy breezes

Blow soft o'er Ceylon's isle;

Though every prospect pleases,

And only man is vile?

In vain with lavish kindness

The gifts of God are strown;

The heathen in his blindness

Bows down to wood and stone.

Shall we, whose souls are lighted

With wisdom from on high,

Shall we to men benighted

The lamp of life deny?

Salvation! O Salvation!

The joyful sound proclaim,

Till earth's remotest nation

Has learned Messiah's name.

Waft, waft, ye winds, His story,

And you, ye waters, roll,

Till, like a sea of glory,

It spreads from pole to pole:

Till o'er our ransomed nature

The Lamb for sinners slain,

Redeemer, King, Creator,

In bliss returns to reign.

Reginald Heber

Sympathy

A KNIGHT and a lady once met in a grove

While each was in quest of a fugitive love;

A river ran mournfully murmuring by,

And they wept in its waters for sympathy.

"O, never was knight such a sorrow that bore!"

"O never was maid so deserted before!"

"From life and its woes let us instantly fly,

And jump in together for company!"

They searched for an eddy that suited the deed,

But here was a bramble and there was a weed;

"How tiresome it is!" said the fair, with a sigh;

So they sat down to rest them in company.

They gazed at each other, the maid and the knight;

How fair was her form, and how goodly his height!

"One mournful embrace," sobbed the youth, "ere we die!

So kissing and crying kept company.

"Oh, had I but loved such an angel as you!"

"Oh, had but my swain been a quarter as true!"

"To miss such perfection how blinded was I!"

Sure now they were excellent company!

At length spoke the lass, 'twixt a smile and a tear,

"The weather is cold for a watery bier;

When summer returns we may easily die,

Till then let us sorrow in company."

Reginald Heber

If Thou Wert By My Side

IF thou wert by my side, my love,

How fast would evening fail

In green Bengala's palmy grove,

Listening the nightingale!

If thou, my love, wert by my side,

My babies at my knee,

How gaily would our pinnace glide

O'er Gunga's mimic sea!

I miss thee at the dawning gray,

When on our deck reclined,

In careless ease my limbs I lay,

And woo the cooler wind.

I miss thee when by Gunga's stream

My twilight steps I guide,

But most beneath the lamp's pale beam

I miss thee from my side.

I spread my books, my pencil try,

The lingering noon to cheer,

But miss thy kind approving eye,

Thy meek attentive ear.

But when of morn or eve the star

Beholds me on my knee,

I feel, though thou art distant far,

Thy prayers ascend for me.

Then on! then on! where duty leads,

My course be onward still;

O'er broad Hindostan's sultry meads,

O'er bleak Almorah's hill.

That course, nor Delhi's kingly gates,

Nor wild Malwah detain;

For sweet the bliss us both awaits

By yonder western main.

Thy towers, Bombay, gleam bright, they say,

Across the dark-blue sea;

But ne'er were hearts so light and gay

As then shall meet in thee!

Reginald Heber

Trinity Sunday

HOLY, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!

Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee;

Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!

God in three persons, blessed Trinity!

Holy, holy, holy! all the saints adore Thee,

Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;

Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,

Which wert and art and everymore shall be!

Holy, holy, holy! though the darkness hide Thee,

Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see,

Only Thou art holy, there is none beside Thee,

Perfect in power, in love, and purity!

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!

All Thy works shall praise Thy name, in earth, and sky, and sea.

Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!

God in three persons, blessed Trinity!

Reginald Heber