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Was but to me one wild waste wilderness;
I had no share in nature's patrimony,
Blasted were all my morning hopes of Youth,
Dark Disappointment follow'd on my ways,
Care was my bosom inmate, and keen Want
Gnaw'd at my heart. Eternal One thou know'st
How that poor heart even in the bitter hour
Of lewdest revelry has inly yearn'd
For peace.
My Father! I will call on thee,
Pour to thy mercy-seat my earnest prayer,
And wait thy peace in bowedness of soul.
O thoughts of comfort! how the afflicted heart,
Tired with the tempest of its passions, rests
On you with holy hope! the hollow howl
Of yonder harmless tenant of the woods
Bursts not with terror on the sober'd sense.
If I have sinn'd against mankind, on them
Be that past sin; they made me what I was.
In these extremest climes can Want no more
I had no share in nature's patrimony,
Blasted were all my morning hopes of Youth,
Dark Disappointment follow'd on my ways,
Care was my bosom inmate, and keen Want
Gnaw'd at my heart. Eternal One thou know'st
How that poor heart even in the bitter hour
Of lewdest revelry has inly yearn'd
For peace.
My Father! I will call on thee,
Pour to thy mercy-seat my earnest prayer,
And wait thy peace in bowedness of soul.
O thoughts of comfort! how the afflicted heart,
Tired with the tempest of its passions, rests
On you with holy hope! the hollow howl
Of yonder harmless tenant of the woods
Bursts not with terror on the sober'd sense.
If I have sinn'd against mankind, on them
Be that past sin; they made me what I was.
In these extremest climes can Want no more
