Lo, while we ask the stars
To learn the will of God,
His answer unawares
Strikes sudden from the sod.
Not when we wait the word
The word of God is giv’n;
The voice of God is heard
As much from earth as heav’n.
The voice of God is heard
Not in the thunder-fit;
A still small voice is heard,
Half-heard, and that is it.
PÆANS
Man
Man
Man putteth the world to scale
And weigheth out the stars;
Th’ eternal hath lost her veil,
The infinite her bars;
His balance he hath hung in heaven
And set the sun therein.
He measures the lords of light
And fiery orbs that spin;
No riddle of darkest night
He dares not look within;
Athwart the roaring wrack of stars
He plumbs the chasm of heaven.
The wings of the wind are his;
To him the world is given;
His servant the lightning is,
And slave the ocean, even;
He scans the mountains yet unclimb’d
And sounds the solid sea.
With fingers of thought he holds
What is or e’er can be;
And, touching it not, unfolds
The sealèd mystery.
The pigmy hands, eyes, head God gave
A giant’s are become.
But tho’ to this height sublime
By labour he hath clomb,
One summit he hath to climb,
One deep the more to plumb—
To rede himself and rule himself,
And so to reach the sum.
1898.
Life
Life
From birth to death the life of man
Is infinite on the earth,
To know and do that which he can
And be what he is worth.
Our mortal life, however wrought,
Eternity is indeed;
For every moment brings a thought,
And every thought’s a deed;
And that is so much infinite
Which may be divided much;
And if we live with might and mirth
Our human life is such.
For him who has not might and mirth
That which is not now is never;
And he who can live well on earth
Does live in heaven for ever.
1898.
World-Song
World-Song
O Vision inviolate, O Splendour supernal,
We stand in Thy white light like lamps alit in day;
Before Thee, Omnipotent, in sight of Thy glory,
Our countenance is witherèd like stars in the sun.
Before Thee our symphonies are still’d into silence;
Thy wisdom we wot not nor ever shall we know;
But from Thy high throne, O God, Thy voice and Thy thunder
In utterance reïterate give glory and strength.
Finis
Punctuation has been corrected without note. Archaic spellings and hyphenation have been retained. Other errors have been corrected as noted below. Original list of Contents at the beginning contained only listings for Parts in the section IN EXILE so links for individual poem titles have been added for reader convenience.