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The Voice of God
They told me—when my heart was glad,
And all around but said rejoice—
They told me, and it made me sad,
The thunder was God's angry voice.
And all around but said rejoice—
They told me, and it made me sad,
The thunder was God's angry voice.
And then I thought that from the sky,
Throned monarch o'er a guilty world,
His glance—the lightning flashing by—
His hand the bolts of ruin hurled.
Throned monarch o'er a guilty world,
His glance—the lightning flashing by—
His hand the bolts of ruin hurled.
But I have learned a holier creed
Than that my infancy was taught;
'Twas, from the words of love I read
And the sweet lips of nature, caught,
Than that my infancy was taught;
'Twas, from the words of love I read
And the sweet lips of nature, caught,
Yes—'twas my Father's voice I feared,
It fills the sky, the wide-spread earth;
It called in every tone that cheered
Those rosy hours of childhood's mirth.
It fills the sky, the wide-spread earth;
It called in every tone that cheered
Those rosy hours of childhood's mirth.
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'Tis only on the heedless ear
It breaks in thunder's pealing wrath
Winging the wanderer's steps with fear
To fly destruction's flaming path.
It breaks in thunder's pealing wrath
Winging the wanderer's steps with fear
To fly destruction's flaming path.
God dwells no more afar from me,
His voice in all that lives is heard;
From the loud shout of rolling sea
To warbled song of morning's bird.
His voice in all that lives is heard;
From the loud shout of rolling sea
To warbled song of morning's bird.
In all that stirs the human breast,
That wakes to mirth or draws the tear,
In passion's storm or soul's calm rest,
Alike the voice of God I hear.
That wakes to mirth or draws the tear,
In passion's storm or soul's calm rest,
Alike the voice of God I hear.
Poem No. 650; c. 2 December 1837
| Jones Very : The Complete Poems | |