We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:18
Words: Anne Steele, Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional 1760. Longing After Unseen Pleasures.
Music: Burlington John F. Burrowes, 1830 (🔊 pdf nwc).
If you know where to get a good picture of Steele or Burrowes (head & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),
How long shall earth’s alluring toys
Detain our hearts and eyes;
Regardless of immortal joys,
And strangers to the skies?
These transient scenes will soon decay,
They fade upon the sight;
And quickly will their brightest day
Be lost in endless night.
Their brightest day, alas, how vain!
With conscious sighs we own;
While clouds of sorrow, care and pain,
O’ershade the smiling noon.
O could our thought and wishes fly,
Above these gloomy shades,
To those bright worlds beyond the sky
Which sorrow ne’er invades.
There joys unseen by mortal eyes,
Or reason’s feeble ray,
In ever blooming prospect rise,
Unconscious of decay.
Lord, send a beam of light divine,
To guide our upward aim;
With one reviving touch of Thine,
Our languid hearts inflame.
Then shall on faith’s sublimest wing
Our ardent wishes rise
To those bright scenes, where pleasures spring
Immortal in the skies.