quote · Legacy record
“How meanly dwells th’ immortal mind! How vile these bodies are! Why was a clod of earth designed T’ enclose a heavenly star? “Weak cottage where our souls reside, This flesh a tott’ring wall; With frightful breaches gaping wide, The building bends to fall. “All round it storms of trouble blow, And waves of sorrow roll; Cold waves and winter storms beat through, And pain the tenant soul. “Alas! how frail our state!” said I; And thus went mourning on, Till sudden from the cleaving sky A gleam of glory shone. My soul felt all the glory come, And breathed her native air; Then she remembered heaven, her home, And she a prisoner here. Straight she begun to change her key, And joyful in her pains, She sang the frailty of her clay In pleasurable strains.
“How meanly dwells th’ immortal mind! How vile these bodies are! Why was a clod of earth designed T’ enclose a heavenly star? “Weak cottage where our souls reside, This flesh a tott’ring wall; With frightful breaches gaping wide, The building bends to fall. “All round it storms of trouble blow, And waves of sorrow roll; Cold waves and winter storms beat through, And pain the tenant soul. “Alas! how frail our state!” said I; And thus went mourning on, Till sudden from the cleaving sky A gleam of glory shone. My soul felt all the glory come, And breathed her native air; Then she remembered heaven, her home, And she a prisoner here. Straight she begun to change her key, And joyful in her pains, She sang the frailty of her clay In pleasurable strains.
In print by 1888 AD · industrial
Recorded in a printed collection by this date; the original date of these words is still unknown.
Meaning not yet available
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Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Watts (identity unresolved)
Attribution: unknown - Country attributed
- Not established
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- In print by 1888 AD · industrial
In print by 1888: recorded in A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations (catalogued1888). Collection publication is an upper bound for this wording, not its earliest origin, composition date or the author's lifetime.
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations (catalogued1888) (1888 AD)
Page 237 · printed citation: Watts · subject: FRAILTY
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.