DEW.
Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine.—Genesis, xxviii. 28.
My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew.—Deuteronomy, xxxii. 2.
As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.—Psalm cxxxiii. 3.
O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? For your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.—Hosea, vi. 4.
See how the orient dew,
Shed from the bosom of the morn,
Into the blowing roses,
Yet careless of its mansion new,
For the clear region where ’twas born,
Round in itself incloses:
And in its little globe’s extent,
Frames as it can its native element.
How it the purple flower does slight!
Scarce touching where it lies;
But gazing back upon the skies,
Shines with a mournful light,
Like its own tear,
Because so long divided from the sphere.
Restless it rolls and insecure,
Trembling lest it grow impure,
Till the warm sun pities its pain,
And to the skies exhales it back again.
So the soul, that drop, that ray
Of the clear fountain of eternal day,
Could it within the human flower be seen,
Remembering still its former height,
Shuns the sweet leaves and blossoms green.
And recollecting its own light,
Does in its pure and circling thoughts express
The greater heaven in an heaven less.
In how coy a figure wound,
Every way it turns away;
So the world excluding round,
Dark beneath but bright above,
Here disdaining, there in love:
How loose and easy hence to go;
How girt and ready to ascend;
Moving but on a point below,
It all about does upwards bend,
Such did the manna’s sacred dew distil,
White and entire although congeal’d and chill;
Congeal’d on earth; but does dissolving run
Into the glories of the Almighty sun.
Andrew Marvell.
The starlight dews
All silently their tears of love instil,
Weeping themselves away, till they infuse,
Deep into nature’s breast, the spirit of her hues.
Byron.
Within these leaves the holy dew
That falls from heaven, hath won anew
A glory—in declining.
Miss Barrett.
Those verdant hills now bathed in morning dews,
Whose every drop outvies Golconda’s gem.
Lo! one hangs glittering on yon blade of grass:
Spurn not that lucid trembler, but admire
Its glorious hues, and trace them to their source;
The nice arrangement of its particles.
Draw nigh;—through microscopic lens inspect
That single drop’s profound elaborateness—
Most delicate, and wonderfully wrought.
Is it a work of chance? It is a world
Replete with life, and love, and feud. Its crowds
Dart swift from verge to verge (their ocean depths.)
How nervous and minute each supple fin!
What made that film-like hinge on which it plays?
What hand, what eye, save God’s could fashion it?
T. L. Merritt.
Dews of the morning! wherefore were ye given?
—To shine on earth, then rise to heaven.
J. Montgomery.
See how the dewdrops in the morning flowers
Stand glistening, brighter than the precious gem
Whose worth exalts the kingly diadem!
Clear, tiny droplets, which some April showers
Born of big, listed clouds, did weep o’er them,
In their pure joy that summer’s rosy bowers
Were bursting into bloom. Oh! dewdrops pale,
How bountiful His hand, who sends the blessing
Of your surpassing coolness to th’ oppressing
Thirst of the dying flowers, whose juices fail
(But for such timely aid) ’neath noontide’s sun.
There is no storm-wind with its rushing wail,
There is no storm-cloud lowers o’er the vale,
But scatters blessings as it passeth on.
G. J. O. Allmann.
But, ah! what numbers still are dead,
Though under means of grace they lie!
The dew still falling round their head,
And yet their heart untouched and dry.
Dear Saviour! hear us when we call,
To wrestling pray’r an answer give;
Pour down thy dew upon us all,
That all may feel, and all may live.
John Newton.
One morn I mark’d two dewdrops bright,
Impendent on a thorny spray:
The gems had caught my roving sight,
Gay glittering in the sunny ray.
A sudden breeze pass’d o’er the ground,
And shook their faithless resting-place;
They trembled—waver’d—with a bound,
Commingled in a kind embrace,
’Tis thus, thought I, with loving hearts,
When adverse storms sweep o’er their sky,
In closer union, each imparts
To each, aid, comfort, soothing joy.
The mingled dewdrops by the sun
Were cherish’d, then exhaled together:
Thus virtuous love, on earth begun,
Renew’d in Heaven, exists for ever.
George Taylor.