William Baxter The Soul's Wants (1864)

 

T H E

L A D I E S '   R E P O S I T O R Y .
F E B R U A R Y,   1 8 6 4 .

 

T H E   S O U L ' S   W A N T S .
BY REV. WILLIAM BAXTER.
LORD, I am thirsty, but no earthly stream
    My soul's deep, burning thirst can satisfy;
The stream I thirst for flashes near the throne,
    The tree of life grows where it murmurs by.

Lord, I am hungry, not for earthly food;
    But that which thou alone, Lord, canst supply,
The bread of heaven, O, give that bread to me;
    Without it soon my hungry soul must die.

Lord, I am weary of the world and sin;
    To weary Israel thou didst Canaan grant;
Give me the rest thou hast prepared above,
    For that sweet rest, weary and worn, I pant.

Lord, I am poor, not lacking earthly goods;
    But O I wish myself an heir to feel
Of the true riches, where no moth corrupts,
    And where the thief may not break through and steal

Lord, I am weak, not in the flesh alone;
    My spirit faints, life's path seems dark and long;
O, give me strength for all my future way,
    And to my soul when fainting say, "Be strong!"

Lord, I am blind; not as to fleshly eyes,
    But the soul's eyes, alas! are lacking sight;
To the soul's chaos speak, as once of old,
    And say to my dark mind, "Let there be light!"

Lord, I am sick with sickness of the soul,
    And from that malady would fain be free;
I'm sick with sin, and know not of a cure,
    Unless thou wilt the good physician be.

Lord, I am dying; with the monster Death
    I now am waging an unequal strife;
Then aid me now, thou who hast conquered death,
    And give, O, give to me eternal life!

 

[The Ladies' Repository 24 (February 1864): 76.]

ABOUT THE ELECTRONIC EDITION

      William Baxter's "The Soul's Wants" was first published in The Ladies' Repository: A Monthly Periodical Devoted to Literature and Religion, Vol. 24, No. 2, February 1864, p. 76. This volume, edited by I. W. Wiley, was published in Cincinnati and Chicago by Poe and Hitchcock and in New York by Carlton and Porter. The poem was reprinted in The Millennial Harbinger, Vol. 39, No. 10, October 1868, p. 571.

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
Derry, PA

Created 17 April 2000.
Updated 28 June 2003.

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