Verses Written by Dr Brande in 1802
Oh give me in this calm retreat
Forgetting former cares,
To pass in Peace and Leisure sweet,
My few remaining years.
What though this crazy mortal hut
Be hastening to decay;
Its shatter’d windows wholly shut,
To ev’ry glimpse of day.
Yet still the mental taper burns
With undiminish’d light;
And love and friendship strive by turns,
To change to day my night.
Thus time shall gently glide away
Till he in whom I trust
Directs this mass of mouldering clay
To mingle with the dust.
Awaking then from Life’s strange dream
Ah whither shall thou go!
Of heavenly fire thou vital gleam,
That power alone can know.
That boundless Power who plac’d us here
Who here hath been our guide,
Whose might, whose wisdom I revere,
And in His love confide.