Olney Hymn 34: The Waiting Soul

William Cowper 1731 (Berkhamsted) – 1800 (Dereham)



Breathe from the gentle south, O Lord,
And cheer me from the north;
Blow on the treasures of thy word,
And call the spices forth!

I wish, Thou knowest, to be resign'd,
And wait with patient hope;
But hope delay'd fatigues the mind,
And drinks the spirits up.

Help me to reach the distant goal;
Confirm my feeble knee;
Pity the sickness of a soul
That faints for love of Thee!

Cold as I feel this heart of mine,
Yet, since I feel it so,
It yields some hope of life divine
Within, however low.

I seem forsaken and alone,
I hear the lion roar;
And every door is shut but one,
And that is Mercy's door.

There, till the dear Deliverer come,
I'll wait with humble prayer;
And when He calls His exile home,
The Lord shall find him there.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

44 sec read
140

Quick analysis:

Scheme XAXA BXBX CDCD EFEF XGXG XHXH
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 738
Words 143
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

William Cowper

William Macquarie Cowper was an Australian Anglican archdeacon and Dean of Sydney. more…

All William Cowper poems | William Cowper Books

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