53 ADORATION

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_