For works with similar titles, see Taste.
212202Hymns for the Amusement of Children — Hymn XV. Taste1791Christopher Smart

HYMN XV.

TASTE.

O guide my judgment and my taste,
Sweet SPIRIT, author of the book
Of wonders, told in language chaste,
And plainness not to be mistook.

5O let me muse, and yet at sight
The page admire, the page believe;
"Let there be light, and there was light,
"Let there be Paradise and Eve!"

Who his soul's rapture can refrain?
10At Joseph's ever-pleasing tale,
Of marvels, the prodigious train,
To Sinai's hill from Goshen's vale.

The Psalmist and proverbial Seer,
And all the prophets' sons of song,
15Make all things precious, all things clear,
And bear the brilliant word along.

O take the book from off the shelf,
And con it meekly on thy knees;
Best panegyric on itself,
20 And self-avouch'd to teach and please.

Respect, adore it heart and mind,
How greatly sweet, how sweetly grand!
Who reads the most, is most refin'd,
And polish'd by the Master's hand.

Notes


This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

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