Hymn on Heaven

I.

Hail, sacred Salem, plac’d on high!

Seat of th’ Almighty King,

What thought can grasp thy boundless bliss?

What tongue thy glories sing?

II.

Thy crystal tow’rs and palaces

Magnificently rise,

And dart their beauteous lustre round

The empyrean skies.

III.

The voice of triumph in thy streets,

And acclamations sound:

Gay banquets in thy splendid courts,

And nuptial joys abound.

IV.

Bright smiles on ev’ry face appear,

Rapture in ev’ry eye;

From ev’ry mouth glad anthems flow

And charming harmony.

V.

Illustrious day for ever there

Streams from the face divine;

No pale-fac’d moon e’er glimmers forth,

Nor stars, nor sun decline.

VI.

No scorching heats, no piercing colds,

The changing seasons bring:

But o’er the fields mild breezes there

Breathe an eternal spring.

VII.

The flow’rs with lasting beauty shine,

And deck the smiling ground;

While flowing streams of pleasure all

The happy plains surround.

Text: Poems on Several Occasions (London: E. Dudley [and seven others], 1778), pp. 84-85.