Poem by George Gordon
Byron
The Prayer Of
Nature
Father of Light! great God of
Heaven!
Hear'st thou the accents of
despair?
Can guilt like man's be e'er
forgiven?
Can vice atone for crimes by
prayer?
Father of Light, on thee I
call!
Thou seest my soul is dark
within;
Thou who canst'mark the
sparrow's fall,
Avert from me the death of
sin.
No shrine I seek, to sects
unknown;
Oh, point to me the path of
truth!
Thy dread omnipotence I
own;
Spare, yet amend, the faults
of youth.
Let bigots rear a gloomy
fane,
Let superstitition hail the
pile,
Let priests, to spread their
sable reign,
With tales of mystic rites
beguile.
Shall man confine his Maker's
sway
To Gothic domes of mouldering
stone?
Thy temple is the face of the
day;
Earth, ocean, heaven, thy
boundless throne.
Shall man condemn his race to
hell,
Unless they bend in pompous
form?
Tell us that all, of one who
fell,
Must perish in the mingling
storm?
Shall each pretend to reach
the skies,
Yet doom his brother to
expire,
Whose soul a different hope
supplies,
Or doctrines less severe
inspire?
Shall these, by creeds they
can't expound,
Prepare a fancied bliss or
woe?
Shall reptiles, grovelling on
the ground,
Their great Creator's purpose
know?
Shall those, who live for self
alone,
Whose years float on in a
daily crime -
Shall they by Faith for guilt
atone,
And live beyond the bounds of
Time?
Father! no prophet's laws I
seek,-
Thy laws in Nature's works
appear;-
I own myself corrupt and
weak,
Yet will I pray, for thou wilt
hear!
Thou, who canst guide the
wandering star
Through trackness realms of
other's space;
Who calm'st the elemental
war,
Whose hand from pole to pole I
trace.
Thou, who in wisdom placed me
here,
Who, when thou wilt, canst
take me hence,
Ah! whilst I tread this
earthly sphere,
Extend to me thy wide
defence.
To Thee, my God, to thee I
call!
Whatever weal or woe
betide,
By thy command I rise or
fall,
In thy protection I
confide.
If, when this dust to dust's
restored,
My soul shall float on airy
wing,
How shall thy glorious name
adored
Inspire her feedle voice to
sing!
But, if this fleeting spirit
share
With clay the gaves eternal
bed,
While life yet throbs I raise
my prayer,
Though doom'd no more to quit
the dead.
To Thee I breathe my humble
strain;
Grateful for all thy mercies
past,
And hope, my God, to thee
again
This erring life may fly at
last.