Samuel Kettell, ed. Specimens of American Poetry. 1829.
By LinesPeter Oliver (1713–1791)
C
The mournful gloom, erect the pensive eye
To where the virtuous man is rank’d above;
See there the cloudless soul, unfetter’d, free
From every terrene clog that here so late
His flight retarded to the throne of God.
See his exulting spirit, mounted high
On wings of love celestial, basking full
In the calm sunshine of the Deity.
There, every tear wiped from his eyes, he views
The rushing glories of the world of light,
He drinks the stream of pleasure, pure, unmix’d,
That flows incessant from the sacred fount:
His ears delighted with angelic harps,
He tunes his own, and joins the sacred choir:
The odors from the golden tree of life,
Which fill all heaven with fragrance, he inhales,
And feels, enraptured, all those joys that flow
From converse with the Godhead, face to face.