 | Poems by Henry Septimus Sutton |  |
191
A HYMN OF CREATION.
I.
God! The Alone, the Infinite, the Whole!
Star-dust condenses, suns burn, planets roll
From Thy Word's fountain, O Creator sole!
All that Thou makest, art Thou; and yet far
More high, deep, wide, than all creations are.
Star-dust condenses, suns burn, planets roll
From Thy Word's fountain, O Creator sole!
All that Thou makest, art Thou; and yet far
More high, deep, wide, than all creations are.
Thou Who of all things the Inventor art,
Whether of spirit-powers we speak, apart
From things material, or of things that be
Subjected to those powers,—the company
Of rolling orbs throughout immensity:—
Whether of spirit-powers we speak, apart
From things material, or of things that be
Subjected to those powers,—the company
Of rolling orbs throughout immensity:—
Thou by Whom, ere our system's flow of things,
Their fatherly first beat Time in his wings
Retain'd; where, scarcely breathing, he did stand
Still, eager, tremulous, till the first sand
Might drop down in the hour-glass in his hand:—
Their fatherly first beat Time in his wings
Retain'd; where, scarcely breathing, he did stand
Still, eager, tremulous, till the first sand
Might drop down in the hour-glass in his hand:—
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Thou, at whose Voice Space, like a sleep, was broke,
To carry in her arms when she awoke
Another orb, Thy offspring; that her breast
And mother-arms might foster and invest
Our sun, one babe the more to be caress'd:—
To carry in her arms when she awoke
Another orb, Thy offspring; that her breast
And mother-arms might foster and invest
Our sun, one babe the more to be caress'd:—
Thou by whose Word that sun, infill'd with fire
By the eternal sun, mother and sire
Became, and brought at length to blazing birth,
And caused to roll in its own orbit's girth,
Each moonless or moon-lighted planet-earth:—
By the eternal sun, mother and sire
Became, and brought at length to blazing birth,
And caused to roll in its own orbit's girth,
Each moonless or moon-lighted planet-earth:—
Thou, Who with bursting fires and various flow
Of winds above, and floods and seas below,
With masses crystalline, and metal-vein,
And ooze, and sediment, and heaps immane,
Layest the bases strong for heart and brain;—
Of winds above, and floods and seas below,
With masses crystalline, and metal-vein,
And ooze, and sediment, and heaps immane,
Layest the bases strong for heart and brain;—
Who dost lift up the continents, and spread
For every sea its deep, its shifting bed
For every stream; whose operant hand defines
The bearings of all trends and serpentines,
And levels of all risings and inclines:—
For every sea its deep, its shifting bed
For every stream; whose operant hand defines
The bearings of all trends and serpentines,
And levels of all risings and inclines:—
193
Who chillest flowing waves to icy rock,
And rains to snow and hail, and dost unlock
And set all free again with fervent air;
Who all the mineral creatures dost endow
With man-foreseeing uses:—Lo, we bow!
And rains to snow and hail, and dost unlock
And set all free again with fervent air;
Who all the mineral creatures dost endow
With man-foreseeing uses:—Lo, we bow!
II.
God! Whose incessant hand still weaves a robe
Of verdure and of glory for the globe;
Adding cells living to the living cell,
Until to aspects multiform they swell,
With order'd parts, symmetric, parallel;
Of verdure and of glory for the globe;
Adding cells living to the living cell,
Until to aspects multiform they swell,
With order'd parts, symmetric, parallel;
Taking possession wide with leafy hands
And branches for their arms; about the lands
In green profuseness, and in flowers the while
Thy thought inscribing in symbolic style
Gorgeous on every continent and isle:—
And branches for their arms; about the lands
In green profuseness, and in flowers the while
Thy thought inscribing in symbolic style
Gorgeous on every continent and isle:—
Yea, Thine! And none the less because outwrought
By instruments subservient to Thy thought;
Quick honey-seeking wingëd things that fly
From flower to flower, strange pollen to supply,
And make the future all the past outvie;—
By instruments subservient to Thy thought;
Quick honey-seeking wingëd things that fly
From flower to flower, strange pollen to supply,
And make the future all the past outvie;—
194
Thine, still, the flowers; in Thy designs array'd;
Their insects, too, are Thine; them hast Thou made,
Thy purposes to struggle toward, and aid;—
In all are shown the wonders of Thy lore
Creative:—Thee, Great Maker, we adore!
Their insects, too, are Thine; them hast Thou made,
Thy purposes to struggle toward, and aid;—
In all are shown the wonders of Thy lore
Creative:—Thee, Great Maker, we adore!
III.
O God, Who, working now in subtler moods
Within the cells where coming sentience broods,
Makest the earth with faunal growths abound
In myriad moving forms of being, found
In homes of air, of water, and of ground;—
Within the cells where coming sentience broods,
Makest the earth with faunal growths abound
In myriad moving forms of being, found
In homes of air, of water, and of ground;—
Artist profound of countless lives that look
And feel all round us, for whom every nook
Of Nature hastens to provide new nests,
Fired by Thy liberal heart, which manifests
So grand a yearning for increase of guests;—
And feel all round us, for whom every nook
Of Nature hastens to provide new nests,
Fired by Thy liberal heart, which manifests
So grand a yearning for increase of guests;—
From Whose fount flow all various things that thrive
On feet or wings, or, watery, float and dive;—
For whose progressive change Thou dost contrive
Needs that them force, by slow but sure degrees,
New strange developments to snatch and seize;—
On feet or wings, or, watery, float and dive;—
For whose progressive change Thou dost contrive
Needs that them force, by slow but sure degrees,
New strange developments to snatch and seize;—
195
Who all their motions movest in, and art
Of their sensations the invisible heart;—
Who kindlest passions swift, hot, cold, or slow,
Mothers of thought and gesture:—Thee to know
We seek, and to adore Thee, bending low!
Of their sensations the invisible heart;—
Who kindlest passions swift, hot, cold, or slow,
Mothers of thought and gesture:—Thee to know
We seek, and to adore Thee, bending low!
IV.
God! by Whose lives in nostrils breathed, our race
Is lift above its animal being-base
Unto a noble heritage and place,—
A race of higher power and renown,
All Nature's monarch, all Creation's crown;—
Is lift above its animal being-base
Unto a noble heritage and place,—
A race of higher power and renown,
All Nature's monarch, all Creation's crown;—
Thou, Who instillest thought that weighs the spheres
And dives in problem-seas there to enmesh
Whatever subtly-wandering thing appears,
And mak'st the books be written o'er afresh
With vast increases through advancing years;—
And dives in problem-seas there to enmesh
Whatever subtly-wandering thing appears,
And mak'st the books be written o'er afresh
With vast increases through advancing years;—
Who with oar, sail, steam, rail, and throbbing wire
Dwindlest the earth to bring the peoples nigher,
That far-off lands may mutual aid arrange,
That east with west may commune and exchange,
And north to south be helpful, and not strange;—
Dwindlest the earth to bring the peoples nigher,
That far-off lands may mutual aid arrange,
That east with west may commune and exchange,
And north to south be helpful, and not strange;—
196
Beauteous Inspirer of each high attempt
In form, sound, colour, language, to protract
Æsthetic influences death-exempt,
That whoso sees or hears may re-enact
In dreams poetic what the artist dreamt;—
In form, sound, colour, language, to protract
Æsthetic influences death-exempt,
That whoso sees or hears may re-enact
In dreams poetic what the artist dreamt;—
Whose sea of sacred light divine includes
All souls, solicits all, and watches still
For entrance, and with ceaseless patience broods,
And is aggrieved unless it may infill
Each helpless heart with power to do Thy will;—
All souls, solicits all, and watches still
For entrance, and with ceaseless patience broods,
And is aggrieved unless it may infill
Each helpless heart with power to do Thy will;—
Who art the true light, clearly or darkly seen,
That lights us all the womb and grave between,
Illumining the clouds that intervene
Betwixt us and thy Spirit-sun above,
And glowing brightest when we pray and love;—
That lights us all the womb and grave between,
Illumining the clouds that intervene
Betwixt us and thy Spirit-sun above,
And glowing brightest when we pray and love;—
Who beam'st forth in the noble, sweet surprise
That streams, forgiving, from the tearful eyes
Of injured gentleness; and hast a place
In sacred gleams where shines the martyr's face,
In tender smiles where holy hearts embrace;—
That streams, forgiving, from the tearful eyes
Of injured gentleness; and hast a place
In sacred gleams where shines the martyr's face,
In tender smiles where holy hearts embrace;—
197
Whose will it is that we severely hate
And wrestle with the lusts that suffocate
Thy Spirit in our hearts, and slowly gain
At length the utter victory, and reign
With Thee triumphant over sin and pain;—
And wrestle with the lusts that suffocate
Thy Spirit in our hearts, and slowly gain
At length the utter victory, and reign
With Thee triumphant over sin and pain;—
Dost Thou not weep in all our righteous tears?
Joyest Thou not in our true joys? Thy years
Are they not mission'd that they shall not cease
To its just stature Thy great masterpiece,
The grand organic manhood, to increase?
Joyest Thou not in our true joys? Thy years
Are they not mission'd that they shall not cease
To its just stature Thy great masterpiece,
The grand organic manhood, to increase?
Yea, Father, even so! And still Thy love
Strives ever to attract our hearts above
To Thee and to Thy high angelic throne;—
And yet to basest levels we how prone,
And deaf to all Thy Word's appealing tone!
Strives ever to attract our hearts above
To Thee and to Thy high angelic throne;—
And yet to basest levels we how prone,
And deaf to all Thy Word's appealing tone!
But now we kneel before Thee, and we say—
Prayer lived in, lived out, this th' appointed way;
O help us then to live e'en as we pray,
Humbly, and taught of God, and striving still
To be obedient to Thy holy will;—
Prayer lived in, lived out, this th' appointed way;
O help us then to live e'en as we pray,
Humbly, and taught of God, and striving still
To be obedient to Thy holy will;—
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Thence rising to the sure unfailing trust;
The good deeds done, no more because we must,
But that we love to do them;—sevenfold peace
All other peace, all ecstasy above;—
Light ever-growing;—ever-largening love.
The good deeds done, no more because we must,
But that we love to do them;—sevenfold peace
All other peace, all ecstasy above;—
Light ever-growing;—ever-largening love.
| Poems by Henry Septimus Sutton | |