| Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907. | | | Hymns.
VI. “O pleasant life!” | | By Sarah Flower Adams (1805–1848) |
| | (Paraphrased from the Spanish of Luis de Leon)
O PLEASANT life! | |
| Whene’er the soul can win her way | |
| From out the world’s dark strife; | |
| And fly to depths fair-haunted | |
| By spirits who have panted | 5 |
| To quit earth’s shadows for immortal day— | |
| O pleasant life! | |
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| O happy breast! | |
| Nor care of courts, nor pride of birth, | |
| Can ruffle thy smooth rest; | 10 |
| No scene of gilded riot | |
| Disturbs thy star-lit quiet | |
| Nor dims thy dream of heaven with mists of earth. | |
| O happy breast! | |
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| O blessèd soul! | 15 |
| What care hast thou that flatt’ring fame | |
| Thy daily acts enroll? | |
| No breath of hers it tasketh, | |
| Thy life-long deed but asketh | |
| One smile of Truth to light thy passing name— | 20 |
| O blessèd soul! | | | | |
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