SIN OF THE CHORAL SINGER.
Hark! the organ's solemn peal
Ascends the lofty fane,
To win the soul's repeal,
From everlasting pain:
To waft the voice of praise
To Him who reigns above,
Which blends with burning lays
Of Seraph's holy love.
Hark! the deep-toned, solemn peal!
Again it strikes the air!
My trembling accents steal
To join the anthem there.
I strive to lift my mind
To God's most holy throne;
And, with my thought refined,
To think on Heaven alone.
But earth-born love intrudes
And brings me back to earth;
To dreamy solitudes
My spirit wanders forth:
To walk with one, a youth,
With bright and sunny hair,
Whose words are only truth,
Whose love is heavenly fair.
God! forgive my grievous sin!
God! forgive my erring love!
Write not my sentence in
Thine awful scroll above!
God! forgive thy creature's love,
Who only loves too well!
Let not that virtue prove
My doleful doom to hell.
But make my passion less—
Its burning purify;
And make it meet to bless
My spirit in the sky.