Poems (Southey)/Volume 1/Written on Sunday Morning
Written on SUNDAY MORNING.
Go thou and seek the House of Prayer! I to the Woodlands wend, and thereIn lovely Nature see the God of Love. The swelling organ's peal Wakes not my soul to zeal,Like the wild music of the wind-swept grove.The gorgeous altar and the mystic vestRouse not such ardor in my breast As where the noon-tide beam Flash'd from the broken stream,Quick vibrates on the dazzled sight; Or where the cloud-suspended rain Sweeps in shadows o'er the plain;Or when reclining on the clift's huge heightI mark the billows burst in silver light.
Go thou and seek the House of Prayer! I to the Woodlands shall repair, Feed with all Nature's charms mine eyes, And hear all Nature's melodies. The primrose bank shall there dispense Faint fragrance to the awaken'd sense; The morning beams that life and joy impart, Shall with their influence warm my heart, And the full tear that down my cheek will steal, Shall speak the prayer of praise I feel!
Go thou and seek the House of Prayer!I to the woodlands bend my way And meet Religion there!She needs not haunt the high-arch'd dome to prayWhere storied windows dim the doubtful day:With Liberty she loves to rove, Wide o'er the heathy hill or cowslip'd dale;Or seek the shelter of the embowering grove, Or with the streamlet wind along the vale. Sweet are these scenes to her, and when the night Pours in the north her silver streams of light, She woos Reflection in the silent gloom, And ponders on the world to come, 1795.