Religion
The Altogether Lovely
From Poems on Several Occasions (1744)
OFT has thy Name employ'd my Muse,
Thou LORD of all above:
Oft has my Song to thee arose,
My Song, inspir;d by Love.
My Heart has oft confess'd in Flame,
And melted all away:
Thou art by Night my hourly Dream,
My hourly Thought by Day.
Each Feature o'er thee is a Charm,
And ev'ry Limb a Grace;
Divinely beauteous all thy Form,
Divinely fair thy face.
Thy Love to me how large! how full!
How kind are thy Commands!
Take, O my LOVE, take all my Soul
For ever in thy Hands.
Those bleeding Hands, which on the Cross
Were stretch'd for my Caress:
In the dear Thought my Life I loose—
Was ever Love like this!
Weep, weep my Eyes, let gushing Tears
Stream in an endless flow:
Love on his dying Lips he wears.
His Wounds Compassion show.
Now he remembers me, and speaks,
I hear his Voice; Forgive:
In the dead Pale that spreads his Cheeks;
Ten thousand Beauties live.
LORD, my Affections all are thine,
Warm'd with a grateful Fire;
And thou, O best BELOV'D, art mine,
My Hope, and my Desire.
Conspiring Love, conspiring Charms,
Confess thee all my Joy;
Come, heav'nly FAIR, come to my Arms,
And all my Pow'rs employ.
Cite this poem
MLA
Byles, Mather. “The Altogether Lovely.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/byles/3/.
Chicago
Byles, Mather. “The Altogether Lovely.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/byles/3/.
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More by Mather Byles
- Hymn to Christ for our Regeneration and Resurrection
- An Elegy address'd to His Excellency Governour Belcher: On the Death of his Brother-in-Law, the Honourable Daniel Oliver, Esq
- To His Excellency Governour Burnet, on his Arrival at Boston
- Epitaph I
- Epigram written upon a Pile of Building, erected in Paris by Louis xivth. after the Peace with Queen Anne