Classic Poem

Hosanna to the king
On his eternal throne,
Let heaven's high convex ring
With pray'r and praise alone!
Praise him which treads th' etherial vault,
And with the theme your strains exalt

Praise him, cherubic flights,
And ye seraphic fires,
Angelical delights
With voices, lutes and lyres;
And vie who shall extol him most,
Ye blest innumerable host!

Praise him, thou source of heat,
Great ruler of the day,
And thou serenely sweet,
O moon, his praise display;
Praise him ye glorious lights that are,
The planet and the sparkling star.

Praise him ye heav'ns above
The highest heav'n sublime,
Where tun'd to truth and love
The spheres symphonious chime;
Praise him where holy spirits lave,
Ye waters of eternal wave.

Let them to praise his name
With choral musick flow;
For from his word they came,
He spake and it was so;
His are the glorious, great and fair,
For he commanded, and they were

—For he hath made them fast
For ever and again;
For ever they shall last,
And in their spheres remain;
In all their movements seek or shun,
The law that he commands is done.

Praise ye the Lord of earth,
All ye that dwell therein,
And leap with active mirth,
Ye fish of ev'ry fin;
Praise ye, that hide where ocean sleeps,
Ye dragons of unfathom'd deeps

Ye meteors, fire and hail,
With ev'ry cloud that snows,
As o'er the land they sail,
And various wind that blows
The rapid terror of the storm,
At once his mandate to perform

Ye mountains of the air,
And hills of less degree,
And you ye groves that bear
On ev'ry goodly tree
The summer fruits, and vernal bloom,
And lofty cedars of perfume

Ye beasts that haunt the wild,
From servile bondage loose,
Ye cattle tame and mild
For man's domestic use,
Ye reptiles of the ground adore,
Ye birds sing praises, as ye soar

Praise him, each scepter'd seer
Advanc'd to hold the helm,
And to his praise appear,
Ye people of the realm;
Ye princes by the world renown'd,
And judges, that the laws expound.

Ye youths the maids engage
In melody divine,
Let infancy with age
To praise the Lord combine,
Whose name, whose merits have no end,
But measure and immense transcend.

He shall exalt the crest
Of his peculiar fold,
And all the wise and blest
This festival shall hold;
Ev'n Jacob's sons and Judah's bands,
Whose faith, whose firm allegiance stands.