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What solemn sounds the ear invade!

Poet: Theodore Dwight, 1799
Meter: Long Meter (8,8,8,8)
Location in The Sacred Harp
Stanza Denson Cooper
1
What solemn sounds the ear invade!
What wraps the land in sorrow's shade!
From Heaven the awful mandate flies,
The Father of his Country dies.
Mount Vernon 110, Stanza 1, Lines 1, 2, 3, & 4
Mount Vernon 110, Stanza 1, Lines 1, 2, 3, & 4
2
Let every heart be filled with woe,
Let every eye with tears o'erflow,
Each form oppressed with deepest gloom,
Be clad in vestments of the tomb.

3
Behold the venerable band!
The rulers of our mourning land,
With grief proclaim from shore to shore,
"Our guide, our WASHINGTON'S no more!"

4
Where shall our country turn its eye!
What help remains beneath the sky!
Our Friend, Protector, Strength and Trust,
Lies low and mouldering in the dust.
Mount Vernon 110, Stanza 1, Lines 5, 6, 7, & 8
Mount Vernon 110, Stanza 1, Lines 5, 6, 7, & 8
5
Almight God, to thee we fly--
Before thy throne above the sky,
In deep prostration humbly bow,
And pour the penitential vow.

6
Hear! O Most High! our earnest prayer--
"Our country take beneath thy care,
"When dangers press, and foes draw near,
:May future Washington's appear."

Barber, John Warner. Connecticut Historical Collections, Containing a General Collection of Interesting Facts, Traditions, Biographical Sketches, Anecdotes, Etc., Relating to the History and Antiquities of Every Town in Connecticut, with Geographical Descriptions. New Haven, Conn.: Durrie & Peck and J.W. Barber, 1849.

Goodrich, S. G. Recollections of a Lifetime, or Men and Things I Have Seen: in a Series of Familiar Letters to a Friend, Historical, Biographical, Anecdotical, and Descriptive. Vol. 1. New York: Miller, Orton, and Mulligan, 1856.

Goodrich, S. G. Robert Merry's Museum Vol. 16. New York: S. T. Allen & Co., 1851.