William Cowper

Fairest and foremost of the train that wait
On man's most dignified and happiest state,
Whether we name thee Charity or Love,
Chief grace below, and all in all above,…

Forc'd from home and all its pleasures,
Afric's coast I left forlorn;
To increase a stranger's treasures,
O'er the raging billows borne;…

Honor and happiness unite
To make the Christian's name a praise;
How fair the scene, how clear the light,
fills the remnant of His days!A kingly character He bears,…

I am just two and two, I am warm, I am cold,
And the parent of numbers that cannot be told.
I am lawful, unlawful -- a duty, a fault,
I am often sold dear, good for nothing when bought;…

From right to left, and to and fro,
Caught in a labyrinth you go,
And turn, and turn, and turn again,
To solve the mystery, but in vain;…

With two spurs or one, and no great matter which,
Boots bought, or boots borrow'd, a whip or a switch,
Five shillings or less for the hire of his beast,
Paid part into hand;--you must wait for the rest.…

Lord, who hast suffer'd all for me,
My peace and pardon to procure,
The lighter cross I bear for Thee,
Help me with patience to endure.

On the Burning of Lord Mansfield's Library, Together
with his MSS. by the Mob, in the Month of June 1780.So then - the Vandals of our isle,
Sworn foes to sense and law,
Have burnt to dust a nobler pile…

As in her ancient mistress’ lap
The youthful tabby lay,
They gave each other many a tap,
Alike disposed to play.But strife ensues. Puss waxes warm,…

Between Nose and Eyes a strange contest arose,
The spectacles set them unhappily wrong;
The point in dispute was, as all the world knows,
To which the said spectacles ought to belong.

When the British warrior queen,
Bleeding from the Roman rods, Sought, with an indignant mien,
Counsel of her country's gods,
Sage beneath a spreading oak Sat the Druid, hoary chief; Every burning word he spoke

There is a fountain fill'd with blood,
Drawn from Emmanuel's veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.

"Me too, perchance, in future days,
The sculptured stone shall show,
With Paphian myrtle or with
Parnassian on my brow."But I, or e'er that season come

On His Return from RamsgateTHAT ocean you have late surveyed,
Those rocks I too have seen;
But I afflicted and dismayed,
You tranquil and serene.You from the flood-controlling steep…

Oh that those lips had language! Life has pass'd
With me but roughly since I heard thee last.
Those lips are thine--thy own sweet smiles I see,
The same that oft in childhood solaced me;…

The swallows in their torpid state
Compose their useless wing,
And bees in hives as idly wait
The call of early spring.

Hic etiam jacet,
Qui totum novennium vixit,
Puss.
Siste paulisper,…

Jesus! where'er Thy people meet,
There they behold Thy mercy seat;
Where'er they seek Thee, Thou art found,
And every place is hallow'd ground.For Thou, within no walls confined,…

Little inmate, full of mirth,
Chirping on my kitchen hearth,
Whereso'er be thine abode,
Always harbinger of good,…

The suitors sinned, but with a fair excuse,
Whom all this elegance might well seduce;
Nor can our censure on the husband fall,
Who, for a wife so lovely, slew them all.

I am fond of the swallow--I learn from her flight,
Had I skill to improve it, a lesson of love:
How seldom on earth do we see her alight!
She dwells in the skies, she is ever above.It is on the wing that she takes her repose,…

Oft we embrace our ills by discontent,
And give them bulk beyond what nature meant.
A parent, brother, friend deceased, to cry--
'He's dead indeed, but he was born to die'--…

My God, till I received Thy stroke,
How like a beast was I!
So unaccustom'd to the yoke,
So backward to comply.

Heal us,
Emmanuel! here we are,
Waiting to feel Thy touch:
Deep-wounded souls to Thee repair And