Explore "The First Six Verses of the Ninetieth Psalm Versified" by Robert Burns on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
O Thou, the first, the greatest friend / Of all the human race! / Whose strong right hand has ever been / Their stay and dwelling place!
Before the mountains heav'd their heads / Beneath Thy forming hand, / Before this ponderous globe itself / Arose at Thy command;
That Pow'r which rais'd and still upholds / This universal frame, / From countless, unbeginning time / Was ever still the same.
Those mighty periods of years / Which seem to us so vast, / Appear no more before Thy sight / Than yesterday that's past.
Thou giv'st the word: Thy creature, man, / Is to existence brought; / Again Thou say'st, "Ye sons of men, / Return ye into nought!"
Thou layest them, with all their cares, / In everlasting sleep; / As with a flood Thou tak'st them off / With overwhelming sweep.
They flourish like the morning flow'r, / In beauty's pride array'd; / But long ere night cut down it lies / All wither'd and decay'd.