The Beauties of Burn's Poems/The First Six Verses of the Ninetieth Psalm

by Robert Burns (1759-1796)

For other versions of this work, see The First Six Verses of the Ninetieth Psalm.

The First Six Verses

Of the Nintieth Psalm.

O Thou, the first, the greatest Friend,
Of all the human race!
Whose strong right-hand has ever been
Their stay and dwelling-place:

Before the mountains heav'd their heads
Beneath thy forming hand,
Before this pond'rous globe itself
Arose at Thy command.

That Pow'r which rais'd, and still upholds
This universal frame,
From countless unbeginning time,
Was ever still the same.

Those mighty periods of years,
Which seem to us so vast
Appear no more before thy sight
Than yesterday that's past.

Thou giv'st the word: Thy creature, man,
Is to existence brought:
Again, Thou say'st, 'Ye sons of men,
'Return ye into nought.'

Thou layest them, with all their cares,
In everlasting sleep;
As with a flood Thou tak'st them off
With overwhelming sweep.

They flourish like the morning flow'r,
In beauty's pride array'd;
But long e'er night, cut down, it lies
All wither'd and decay'd.

 

Divider from 'The Beauties of Burn's Poems' a chapbook printed in Falkirk in 1819