Whym Chow: Flame of Love By Michael Field [i.e. K. H. Bradley and E. E. Cooper] |
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| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
| VII. | VII.
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| VIII. |
| IX. |
| X. |
| XI. |
| XII. |
| XIII. |
| XIV. |
| XV. |
| XVI. |
| XVII. |
| XVIII. |
| XIX. |
| XX. |
| XXI. |
| XXII. |
| XXIII. |
| XXIV. |
| XXV. |
| XXVI. |
| XXVII. |
| XXVIII. |
| XXIX. |
| XXX. |
 | Whym Chow: Flame of Love |  |
18
VII.
[It is so old and deep a thing]
It is so old and deep a thing
The being fond of animals—so far
It goes back to when earth was first beginning,
Lay under forests dark as storm-clouds are,
Or from its ice menaced frail breath and motion
Of living creatures. Then, by many an ocean,
Lost to our planet now, man followed beast
As foe; and out of hatred came a love
For breath that feebly struggled as man's breath,
For loneliness of soul that could at least
Be faithful to the Voice of one above,
And listen for it through the woods till death,
And listen for it through the icy flaw;
Yea, come at last to worship at the door
Where dwelt the Voice, and at its human hearth
Find the one end to a world's trackless path.
The being fond of animals—so far
It goes back to when earth was first beginning,
Lay under forests dark as storm-clouds are,
Or from its ice menaced frail breath and motion
Of living creatures. Then, by many an ocean,
Lost to our planet now, man followed beast
As foe; and out of hatred came a love
For breath that feebly struggled as man's breath,
For loneliness of soul that could at least
Be faithful to the Voice of one above,
And listen for it through the woods till death,
And listen for it through the icy flaw;
Yea, come at last to worship at the door
Where dwelt the Voice, and at its human hearth
Find the one end to a world's trackless path.
God in His spaces overhead
Seeks not the powers and angels for His heart:
From these in passion ever is He parted,
And with our mortal ignorance hath part.
Our wild, divining simpleness entrances,
And in the solace of our upward glances
The truth of His own mystery prevails.
So is it when the creatures of the Earth
What was and shall be in ourselves reveal
From eyes that pierce us not; where love avails
To grasp what apprehension in its dearth
Can never judge. Oh, as our God, to feel
A being from below reach where in vain
Those of a race more equal scarce attain:
In sacred revelation to be caught
By blessèd eyes even yet with chaos fraught!
Seeks not the powers and angels for His heart:
From these in passion ever is He parted,
And with our mortal ignorance hath part.
Our wild, divining simpleness entrances,
And in the solace of our upward glances
The truth of His own mystery prevails.
So is it when the creatures of the Earth
What was and shall be in ourselves reveal
From eyes that pierce us not; where love avails
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Can never judge. Oh, as our God, to feel
A being from below reach where in vain
Those of a race more equal scarce attain:
In sacred revelation to be caught
By blessèd eyes even yet with chaos fraught!
| Whym Chow: Flame of Love | |