Lord Thou Art Great

Lord Thou Art Great

"Lord, thou art great!" I cry when in the East,

The day is blooming like a rose of fire,

When to partake anew of life's rich feast

Nature and man awake with fresh desire;

When art thou seen more gracious, God of power?
Than in the morn's great ressurection hour?

"Lord, thou art great!" I cry when blackness shrouds

The noonday heavens, and crinkling lightnings flame,

And on the tablet of the thunder clouds,

In fiery letters write thy dreadful name!

When art thou, Lord, more terrible in wrath,
Than in the mid-day tempest's lowering path?

"Lord, thou art great!" I cry when in the West

Day, softly vanquished, shuts his glowing eye;

When song-feasts ring from every woodlands nest,

And all in melancholy sweetness die;

When giv'st thou, Lord, our hearts more blest reppose,
Than in the magic of thy evening shows?

"Lord, thou art great!" I cry at dead of night,

When silence broods alike on land and deep;

When stars go up and down the blue-arched height,

And on the silver clouds and moonbeams sleep;

When beckonest Thou, O Lord, to loftier height,
Than in the silent praise of holy night.

"Lord, thou art great!" in nature's every form!

Greater in none—simply most great in all;

In tears, and terrors, sunshine, smile, and storm,

And all that stirs the heart, is felt thy call;

"Lord, thou art great!" O let me praise thy name,
And grow in greatness, as thine proclaim.

From the German of Seidl

1:30, p. 1

2.11.1860