---
title: "The First Six Verses of the Ninetieth Psalm Versified"
author: "Robert Burns"
form: "Poem"
year: "1781"
location: "Lochlea"
source: "Project Gutenberg #1279 — Poems and Songs of Robert Burns"
source_url: "https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1279/pg1279.txt"
canonical_url: "https://robert-burns.com/poems/the-first-six-verses-of-the-ninetieth-psalm-versified/"
---

# The First Six Verses of the Ninetieth Psalm Versified

## Poem
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.

---

Source: [Project Gutenberg #1279 — Poems and Songs of Robert Burns](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1279/pg1279.txt)  
Canonical HTML: https://robert-burns.com/poems/the-first-six-verses-of-the-ninetieth-psalm-versified/