"My Heav'nly Father! deign to hear
The supplications of a child,
Who would before thy throne appear,
With spirit meek, and undefiled.
Let not the vanities of earth
Forbid that I should come to Thee,
Of such as I, (by Heav'nly birth)
Thy Kingdom, Thou hast said, shall be."
TO JOHN FINLEY.
By Benjamin S. Parker.
"Hail thou poet occidental,
First in Indiana's Clime—
Whose true passions sentimental,
Outward flowed in living rhyme.
Let no more thy harp, forsaken,
Hang upon the willow tree,
But again its chords awaken
To thy songs blithe melody,
As thou didst in time now olden,
When our Hoosier state was young,
'Ere the praises of these golden
Days of progress yet were sung."
Strickland W. Gillilan, wrote a "Versified Tribute."
"He nursed the Infant Hoosier muse
When she could scarcely lisp her name;
Forerunner of the world's great lights
That since have added to her fame,
He blazed the way to greater things,
With "Hoosier's Nest," and "Bachelor's Hall;"
And, while the grand world-chorus rings
With songs our Hoosier choir sings,
Let not the stream forget the springs,—
Let Finley's name before them all."
FOOTNOTES:
[1] "The Hoosiers," pp. 20-30.
[2] History of Indianapolis and Marion County, p. 72.
[3] "Early Indiana Trials and Sketches," p. 211.
[4] Coggeshall's "The Poets and Poetry of the West," and Finley's "The Hoosier's Nest and Other Poems" published in 1860.