For thee, O Perfection, great ruler,

Chief God of all monarchs, I shatter

The stillness of heaven; awaken,

Like waves on an ocean which scatter

A widening tempest, the uproar.

And cry who will, “Pile the bare mountains,

All rock, in gigantic confusion!

Aye, let every desperate bellow

Of sea, earth and sky in collusion

From tripling trumpet be blasted

Upon the huge pillar! Profusion

Of space so engirds thee, as ever,

Thou wouldst hold undisrupted seclusion.”

But not I! One with man, yet immortal;

For me hast thou built no constriction.

This heart doth outvie the weak eagle.

Not sight so o'errides all restriction.

Then hail! thou great God, from my woodlands

I sing, and Thou calm'st my affliction!