 | Poems Chiefly Lyric and Elegiac |  |
106
CHRISTUS CUNCTATOR.
So far beyond the things of Space—
So high above the things of Time—
And yet, how human is thy face,
How near, how neighbourly, thy clime!
So high above the things of Time—
And yet, how human is thy face,
How near, how neighbourly, thy clime!
Thou wast not born to fill our skies
With lustre from some alien zone:
Thy light, thy love, thy sympathies,
Thy very essence, are our own.
With lustre from some alien zone:
Thy light, thy love, thy sympathies,
Thy very essence, are our own.
Thy mission, thy supreme estate,
Thy life among the pious poor,
Thy lofty language to the great;
Thy touch, so tender and so sure;
Thy life among the pious poor,
Thy lofty language to the great;
Thy touch, so tender and so sure;
107
Thine eyes, whose looks are with us yet;
Thy voice, whose echoes do not die;
Thy words, which none who hear forget,
So piercing are they, and so nigh;
Thy voice, whose echoes do not die;
Thy words, which none who hear forget,
So piercing are they, and so nigh;
Thy balanced nature, always true
And always dauntless and serene,
Which did the deeds none else could do
And saw the sights none else had seen,
And always dauntless and serene,
Which did the deeds none else could do
And saw the sights none else had seen,
And ruled itself from first to last
Without an effort or a pause
By no traditions of the Past—
By nothing, save its own pure laws:
Without an effort or a pause
By no traditions of the Past—
By nothing, save its own pure laws:
All this, and thousand traits beside,
Unseen till these at least are known,
May serve to witness far and wide
That thou art He, and thou alone.
Unseen till these at least are known,
May serve to witness far and wide
That thou art He, and thou alone.
But oh, how high thy spirit soars
Above the men who tell thy tale!
They labour with their awkward oars
And try to show thee—and they fail.
Above the men who tell thy tale!
They labour with their awkward oars
And try to show thee—and they fail.
108
They saw thee; yet they fail like us,
Who also strive to limn thee out,
And say that thou art thus or thus,
And carve our crumbling creeds with Doubt,
Who also strive to limn thee out,
And say that thou art thus or thus,
And carve our crumbling creeds with Doubt,
Or build them up with such a Faith
And such a narrow, niggard Love
As clings to what some other saith,
Or moves not, lest some other move.
And such a narrow, niggard Love
As clings to what some other saith,
Or moves not, lest some other move.
Ah, none shall see thee as thou art,
Or know thee for himself at all,
Until he has thee in his heart,
And heeds thy whisper or thy call,
Or know thee for himself at all,
Until he has thee in his heart,
And heeds thy whisper or thy call,
And feels that in thy sovran will
Eternal Manhood grows not old,
But keeps its prime, that all may fill
Thy large, illimitable fold.
Eternal Manhood grows not old,
But keeps its prime, that all may fill
Thy large, illimitable fold.
| Poems Chiefly Lyric and Elegiac | |