 | Poetical remains (1872) |  |
102
Fragment.
[Father of being, who, before all time]
Father of being, who, before all time,
Of happiness immutable Thyself
Within Thyself possest, yet with Thy Son,
The eternal Reason, counselling in time,
By that efficient cause, the Third, from both
Proceeding, mad'st whatever lives below,
Each in his kind, of thy great attribute
His due degree to enjoy; when, gracious God!
When shall this exile of her native heaven,
Imprison'd in this mortal, with blind search
No longer trace, through matter dimly seen,
Those forms original, which dwelt in Thee
From the beginning; but with piercing glance
Catch universal beauty to the view
At once in all her various charms displayed?
When shall this Soul, of Thee derived, to Thee
Again united, from Thy presence drink
In beatific vision perfect joy
Surpassing human thought? But Thou, Supreme,
Hast placed me here, with natures like my own
Surrounded, that, while gladly to their wants
I minister, by giving I may gain
That happiness, which I from Thee, O Just
As bountiful! solicit.
Of happiness immutable Thyself
Within Thyself possest, yet with Thy Son,
The eternal Reason, counselling in time,
By that efficient cause, the Third, from both
Proceeding, mad'st whatever lives below,
Each in his kind, of thy great attribute
His due degree to enjoy; when, gracious God!
When shall this exile of her native heaven,
Imprison'd in this mortal, with blind search
No longer trace, through matter dimly seen,
Those forms original, which dwelt in Thee
From the beginning; but with piercing glance
Catch universal beauty to the view
At once in all her various charms displayed?
When shall this Soul, of Thee derived, to Thee
Again united, from Thy presence drink
In beatific vision perfect joy
Surpassing human thought? But Thou, Supreme,
Hast placed me here, with natures like my own
Surrounded, that, while gladly to their wants
I minister, by giving I may gain
That happiness, which I from Thee, O Just
As bountiful! solicit.
| Poetical remains (1872) | |