Poems (Hale)/"Our Father which art in Heaven"

by Mary Whitwell Hale

OUR FATHER, WHO ART IN HEAVEN.

   Father, enthroned above!
Whose piercing eye earth's wide expanse surveys,
To Thee the heart its grateful homage pays.
   Faith, hope, and holy love,
To rapture high the inmost spirit swell,
As on the blessings of our lot we dwell.

   O Thou Eternal Spring
Of every joy frail erring man can know,
Of every hope that lights his path below!
   Our feeble praise we bring.
Yet let the imperfect gift accepted be,
As thus with reverence low we bend the knee.

   Our Father! gracious name!
O! how can earth and dust aspire so high?
Our Sire the all-pervading Majesty!
   Feel we no sacred flame
Of gratitude the kindling soul inspire,
And wake to life love's never-dying fire?

   On Sinai's awful mount,
Mid flame and smoke Thy statutes were revealed.
Thy Son a milder, brighter covenant sealed.
   Of that unsullied fount,
Whence living waters pure and priceless flow,
Earth's weary pilgrims e'en can taste below.

   Our Father! Thou whose care,
In sun or shade, is still around our way,
To soothe and bless at morn and close of day,
   Thou wilt not spurn our prayer.
O! wilt thou not Thy breathing influence shed,
While here our weary, wandering footsteps tread?

   O! may our wishes soar
Far, far above earth's varied care and strife,
To Thee, the Source Supreme of light and life.
   So may our souls adore,
As bending low at Thine eternal shrine,
Our hearts, our homage, and our wills are Thine.