Seek The Lord

Seek the Lord, and in his ways persever.
O faint not, but as Eagles fly ;
For his steep hill is high ;
Then striving gain the top, and triumph ever.

When with glory there thy brows are crowned,
New joys so shall abound in thee,
Such sights thy soul shall see,
That worldly thoughts shall by their beams be drowned.

Farewell, world, thou mass of mere confusion,
False light, with many shadows dimmed,
Old Witch, with new foils trimm'd,
Thou deadly sleep of soul, and charmed illusion.

I the King will seek, of Kings adored ;
Spring of light, tree of grace and bliss,
Whose fruit so sov'reign is
That all who taste it are from death restored.

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As By The Streams of Babylon

As by the streams of Babylon
Far from our native soil we sat,
Sweet Sion thee we thought upon,
And ev'ry thought a tear begat.

Aloft the trees, that spring up there,
Our silent Harps wee pensive hung :
Said they that captiv'd vs, Let's hear
Some song, which you in Sion sung.

Is then the song of our God fit
To be profaned in foreign land ?
O Salem, thee when I forget,
Forget his skill may my right hand !

Fast to the roof cleave may my tongue,
If mindless I of thee be found :
Or if, when all my joys are sung,
Jerusalem be not the ground.

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Here the Deities Approve

Here the deities approve
The God of Music and of Love;
All the talents they have lent you,
All the blessings they have sent you,
Pleased to see what they bestow,
Live and thrive so well below.

Music For A While

Music for a while
Shall all your cares beguile:
Wond'ring how your pains were eas'd
And disdaining to be pleas'd
Till Alecto free the dead
From their eternal bands,
Till the snakes drop from her head,
And the whip from out her hands.

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Here Let My Life

Here let my life with as much silence slide
As time, that measures it, does glide.
Nor let the breath of infamy or Fame
From town to town echo about my name,
Nor let my homely death embroider'd be
With scutcheon or with elegy:
An old plebeian let me die.
Alas, all then are such as well as I.

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Come Again

Come again:
Sweet love doth now invite,
Thy graces that refrain,
To do me due delight,
To see, to hear, to touch, to kiss, to die,
With thee again in sweetest sympathy.

Come again:
That I may cease to mourn,
Through thy unkind disdain
For now left and forlorn,
I sit, I sigh, I weep, I faint, I die,
In deadly pain and endless misery.

Gentle love, draw forth thy wounding dart,
Thou canst not pierce her heart,
for I that to approve.
By sighs and tears more hot than are thy shafts
Did tempt, while she, while she for triumph laughs.

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Nascere, Nascere

Be born, divine boy, O tender love. from heaven above.
Earth now brings forth that flower of Nazareth,
and wars he terminates.
He brings the kiss of peace and spiritual deeds.


O love, O boundless love, O giant little boy,
going forth from highest heaven, we go forth to greet you.

Disperse, be afraid ye shades of Dis, flee away.

A golden age of domestic peace bursts forth,
fountains of rich olive oil;
meadows of flowers and mountains laugh for joy
as the expected and longed-for Son ol God
at length comes to his own people.

Resound, ye joyful heavens at the birth of God,
in homage sing sweet hymns.
Behold and exclaim that our liberator is born;
our healer, who bears our heavy faults.

Alleluia.

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In Darkness Let Me Dwell

In darkness let me dwell, the ground shall sorrow be,
The roof despair to bar all cheerful light from me,
The walls of marble black that moistened still shall weep,
My music hellish jarring sounds to banish friendly sleep.
Thus wedded to my woes and bedded to my tomb
O, let me living die, till death do come.

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Fine Knacks For Ladies

Fine knacks for ladies, cheap, choice, brave and new,
Good pennyworths but money cannot move,
I keep a fair but for the fair to view,
A beggar may be liberal of love.
Though all my wares be trash, the heart is true.

Great gifts are guiles and look for gifts again,
My trifles come as treasures from my mind,
It is a precious jewel to be plain,
Sometimes in shell the Orient's pearls we find.
Of others take a sheaf, of me a grain.

Within this pack pins, points, laces and gloves,
And divers toys fitting a country fair,
But in my heart, where duty serves and loves,
Turtles and twins, Court's brood, a heav'nly pair.
Happy the man that thinks of no removes.

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Waly, Waly

The water is wide, I cannot get o’er
And neither have I wings to fly.
Give me a boat that will carry two,
And both shall row, my love and I.

O down in the meadow the other day,
A-gath’ring flowers, both bright and gay,
A-gathring flowers, both red and blue,
I little thought what love can do.

I leaned my back up against some oak,
Thinking that he was a trusty tree,
But first be bended and then he broke,
And so did my false love to me.

A ship there is and she sails the sea,
She’s loaded deep. as deep can be,
But not so deep as the love I am in,
I know not if I sink or swim.

O love is handsome, and love is fine,
And love’s a jewel when it is new,
But when it is old, It groweth cold,
And fades away, like morning dew.