Ode to Peace

William Tennant (1784–1848)

DAUGHTER of God! that sitt’st on high

Amid the dances of the sky,

And guidest with thy gentle sway

The planets on their tuneful way;

Sweet Peace! shall ne’er again

The smile of thy most holy face,

From thine ethereal dwelling-place,

Rejoice the wretched, weary race

Of discord-breathing men?

Too long, O gladness-giving Queen!

Thy tarrying in heaven has been;

Too long o’er this fair blooming world

The flag of blood has been unfurled,

Polluting God’s pure day;

Whilst, as each maddening people reels,

War onward drives his scythèd wheels,

And at his horses’ bloody heels

Shriek Murder and Dismay.

Oft have I wept to hear the cry

Of widow wailing bitterly;

To see the parent’s silent tear

For children fallen beneath the spear;

And I have felt so sore

The sense of human guilt and woe,

That I, in Virtue’s passioned glow,

Have cursed (my soul was wounded so)

The shape of man I bore!

Then come from thy serene abode,

Thou gladness-giving child of God!

And cease the world’s ensanguined strife,

And reconcile my soul to life;

For much I long to see,

Ere I shall to the grave descend,

Thy hand its blessèd branch extend,

And to the world’s remotest end

Wave Love and Harmony!