 | Lyrical Poems |  |
200
ΑΓΝΩΤΩ ΘΕΩ
Ask not what next shall be
When we have shuffled off
This so familiar flesh,
This mortal coil and slough.
When we have shuffled off
This so familiar flesh,
This mortal coil and slough.
The snake renews his youth,
And flames again in spring;
The swallow from the sea
Floats back on annual wing.
And flames again in spring;
The swallow from the sea
Floats back on annual wing.
The year-long day of Earth
Sets in her snowy tomb;
But spring by spring comes back
Resurgent in her bloom.
Sets in her snowy tomb;
But spring by spring comes back
Resurgent in her bloom.
Yet ask not what shall be
When once our course is run!
No lesson lies for us
In bird, or snake, or sun.
When once our course is run!
No lesson lies for us
In bird, or snake, or sun.
201
He, if his being be
Such as our sense can own,
He, whátsoe'er he is,
Unseen, unreach'd, unknown:
Such as our sense can own,
He, whátsoe'er he is,
Unseen, unreach'd, unknown:
In space and air and sun,
Sky, and the stars of it,
Aether and nebula,
He hath no message writ:
Sky, and the stars of it,
Aether and nebula,
He hath no message writ:
Not where beyond Orion
Heave seas of stellar spray;
Not in the chasms of night
That rend the Milky Way:
Heave seas of stellar spray;
Not in the chasms of night
That rend the Milky Way:
Not in the realms of life,
In beast, or bird, or tree;
Graved on no mountain top,
Dredged from no depths of sea.
In beast, or bird, or tree;
Graved on no mountain top,
Dredged from no depths of sea.
With glass and steel we search
The secret human form;
We find no presage there,
No future but the worm:
The secret human form;
We find no presage there,
No future but the worm:
202
From Nature's inmost heart
The final film withdraw;
Eternal silence reigns,
Bound in eternal law.
The final film withdraw;
Eternal silence reigns,
Bound in eternal law.
Force merges into Force;
The atom seeks its kind;
The elements are one,
And each with all combined.
The atom seeks its kind;
The elements are one,
And each with all combined.
Ah! man has vainly sought him
In outward things and dead;
He was not in the woods,
Nor on the mountain-head:
In outward things and dead;
He was not in the woods,
Nor on the mountain-head:
In tempest or in calm,
In forces or in laws,
In proofs of wise design,
In first or final cause.
In forces or in laws,
In proofs of wise design,
In first or final cause.
In thine own being, thine,
Nor elsewhere, search for his;
Not outer heaven or earth:
Within he speaks and is.
Nor elsewhere, search for his;
Not outer heaven or earth:
Within he speaks and is.
203
No voice can speak his voice;
No words his essence tell:
Felt beyond feeling's verge,
Inner, ineffable.
No words his essence tell:
Felt beyond feeling's verge,
Inner, ineffable.
Enough, to know him here,
Far, near, within, around:—
The heavenly treasure flies
Before the touch of sound.
Far, near, within, around:—
The heavenly treasure flies
Before the touch of sound.
In silence hold thy faith,
Unspeakable, alone:
The unknown future lies
Hid in the God Unknown.
Unspeakable, alone:
The unknown future lies
Hid in the God Unknown.
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