William Baxter On Hope (1842)

 

T H E   L A D I E S '   R E P O S I T O R Y .
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CINCINNATI, SEPTEMBER, 1842.

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O r i g i n a l .
O N   H O P E .
BY WILLIAM BAXTER.
ANGELIC beam! thou cheer'st the heart
    With radiance, heaven-born and divine;
O, cling to me! let us not part;
    But closer let thy tendrils twine
Around me--let them, clust'ring, cling,
    To strengthen, 'mid the storms of life;
And round me may thy golden wing
    Be spread, in nature's dying strife!
Bereft of thee, each scene would fade--
    Life's pathway then would cheerless be--
Its brightest sunshine turn to shade--
    To billows change my smoothest sea.
Dark blighting cares would fill the breast,
    Smiles ne'er would lighten up the eye,
Nought check fierce passion's stern control.
    Our cherish'd wish would be to die--
To pass from this cold clime away,
    And leave each dark deserted scene,
To wake in an unclouded day,
    And view again its smile serene.
Hope, that blest feeling, gift divine,
    A precious gem to mortals giv'n;
It radiant in God's courts shall shine,
    Undimm'd amid the joys of heaven.

 

[The Ladies' Repository 2 (September 1842): 269.]

ABOUT THE ELECTRONIC EDITION

      William Baxter's "On Hope" was first published in The Ladies' Repository, and Gatherings of the West: A Monthly Periodical Devoted to Literature and Religion, Vol. 2, No. 9, September 1842, p. 269. This volume, edited by L. L. Hamline, was published in Cincinnati by J. F. Wright and L. Swormstedt for the Methodist Episcopal Church.

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
Derry, PA

Created 30 March 2000.
Updated 28 June 2003.

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