610. Domine, non est exaltum

A paraphrase of Psalm 131, a Song of Ascents or pilgrimage hymn by David. I struggled to make this hymn fit a tune in a different meter, but it was having none of it. Then I turned a page in my hymnal to BOYLSTON by Lowell Mason, 1832 ("Blest be the tie that binds"), and the words started to come. In a trickle, to be sure, but with so brief a psalm, it was enough. ART: An illustration by Jessie Willcox Smith, 1920, from "The Princess and the Goblin" by George MacDonald, public domain.

My heart, Lord, is not proud,
Nor are mine eyes grown vain;
My thoughts, by weighty things unbowed,
From mysteries abstain.

O soul, be calm and still
As child at mother's breast!
Upon the Lord, O Israel,
Your hope forever rest!