Thou, Lord! art all in all—and man is nought:
For tho’ in privileged hours his soaring thought
Would seem to catch a glance of Thee—Thy light
Soon becomes dazzling, and he sinks in night.
Yes! we are blind—and when we most aspire,
Most feel our weakness and our vain desire.
We trace the comets in their orbits—fly
From star to star, across the crowded sky,
And, far beyond what natural powers discern,
Guided by art, we nature’s mysteries learn:
But when we think of Thee—confounded, lost,
From one proud billow to another tost,
Our reason wreck’d—the horizon shaded o’er,
We dash upon a dark and dangerous shore.
What art Thou, Lord? By what high name, what word
Of majesty, shall we address Thee, Lord?
God! awful sound—recess of mystery!
God! what strange notions of infinity,
Infinity of wisdom, power, and love,
Thro’ the still’d heart in shadowy visions move—
Link’d with all space, all being, deep and vast:
‘Tis a vague sense of future and of past—
Of things beyond the stars—of death—of birth—
Of a wing’d Spirit wandering o’er the earth—
Travelling from sun to sun—of whispering wind—
Of thunder—of a more than mortal mind,
That sometimes visits man:—a rolling flood
Invisible—an infinite tide of good,
O’erflowing all—a presence in the air,
Upon the land, the waters, every where!
God! God! word written on the waves—imprest
Upon fair Nature’s universal breast,—
Wafted by every breeze, and borne along
By every motion that has sense or song—
Splendent above and beautiful below,
The soul of all the universe art Thou!
We find Thee there—we revel in the thought—
Forgive the daring, Lord! we know Thee not.
When man hath scaled the heavens, and weigh’d the sun,
And visited the stars—then, Infinite One!
Then may he, then, tho’ still unworthily,
Lift up his thoughts and turn his eyes to Thee;
To Thee, whose glorious brightness human eye
Ne’er gazed on yet in its intensity.
O God! I tremble when on Thee I think;
I feel as if I shudder’d on the brink
Of profanation—yet I love Thee:—read
My doubting, fearing heart—it loves indeed!
Loves, and would fain obey—O touch the chord
That vibrates at Thy name,—and tune it, Lord!
To reverence and to virtue:—all beside—
The vain desires of folly or of pride—
All, all I throw, an offering at Thy feet—
Accept that homage, Being Infinite!
(John Bowring)
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Based on Topics: Love Poems, Man Poems, God Poems, Night Poems, Mind Poems, Soul Poems, Name Poems, Thought & Thinking Poems, Art Poems, Wisdom & Knowledge Poems, Power PoemsBased on Keywords: birth-, stars-, pride-, unworthily, wind-, splendent, waves-, blind-, move-, obey-, beside-