The Poetical Works of George Barlow In Ten [Eleven] Volumes |
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II. |
III. |
IV. |
V. |
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III. |
VI. |
VII. |
VIII. |
IX. |
X. |
XI. |
The Poetical Works of George Barlow | ||
229
THE DIRECT AND THE INDIRECT TOUCH
In closest contact with the Jewish race,
Hand as it were in hand, and face to face,
God stood.
Each mortal action thrilled to the very heart
Of the Immortal. Man was actual part
Of God. Man—God: one double solitude.
Hand as it were in hand, and face to face,
God stood.
Each mortal action thrilled to the very heart
Of the Immortal. Man was actual part
Of God. Man—God: one double solitude.
Man acted then as limb, or tongue, or hand
Of God,—as under his direct command,
As swayed
By his immediate voice, or his swift eye.
God's trumpet-message shook the stormless sky
And man, with terror at his heart, obeyed.
Of God,—as under his direct command,
As swayed
By his immediate voice, or his swift eye.
God's trumpet-message shook the stormless sky
And man, with terror at his heart, obeyed.
God spoke to Greece through loveliness of form:
Not through the rolling Sinaitic storm,
Or thunderless blue air.
Nay! through a girl's unfathomable grace;
Or through the kinghood in a Hector's face;
Or through the golden light in Venus' hair.
Not through the rolling Sinaitic storm,
Or thunderless blue air.
230
Or through the kinghood in a Hector's face;
Or through the golden light in Venus' hair.
By gifts he spake—not now by the direct
Strong former touch, as to his old elect
In fiery Palestine.
God here withdrew the fierce light of his face
That men might better apprehend the grace
Of Beauty, curve by curve and line by line.
Strong former touch, as to his old elect
In fiery Palestine.
God here withdrew the fierce light of his face
That men might better apprehend the grace
Of Beauty, curve by curve and line by line.
To-day he speaks to us—sometimes by Art;
Sometimes directly—to the broken heart,
Or will.
Sometimes by messages the sunset brings,
Or the first star whose golden sandal springs
Alert above yon purple-shouldered hill.
Sometimes directly—to the broken heart,
Or will.
Sometimes by messages the sunset brings,
Or the first star whose golden sandal springs
Alert above yon purple-shouldered hill.
Perhaps for many a day and many a night
He leaves the moon and soft stars to give light;
The world seems empty of him;
Then on a sudden, sundering the skies,
He, the Jehovah, on the spirit's eyes
Flashes, till every star in heaven turns dim.
He leaves the moon and soft stars to give light;
The world seems empty of him;
Then on a sudden, sundering the skies,
He, the Jehovah, on the spirit's eyes
Flashes, till every star in heaven turns dim.
The Poetical Works of George Barlow | ||