 | Songs of Religion and Life |  |
III.
Third of all things forth marched at length
The Deed: soft breezy blowing
At first; anon to stout-limbed strength
Of compact body growing.
Informing Spirit! whence came the birth
Of fluent air and river
And fire with heaving heart, and Earth
That standeth stable ever.
The spangled web of vital strife
Thou weavest; Time thy story;
The world thy temple; human life
Thy battle-field of glory.
Soft shod, or with dread thunder pace
Thy sleepless march thou goest,
The thing that was stamped with thy trace,
The thing to be, thou knowest.
The Deed: soft breezy blowing
At first; anon to stout-limbed strength
Of compact body growing.
Informing Spirit! whence came the birth
Of fluent air and river
17
That standeth stable ever.
The spangled web of vital strife
Thou weavest; Time thy story;
The world thy temple; human life
Thy battle-field of glory.
Soft shod, or with dread thunder pace
Thy sleepless march thou goest,
The thing that was stamped with thy trace,
The thing to be, thou knowest.
Forth voice the hymn! from pole to pole
Him praise who breathed into your soul
The strength which ye inherit!
Each faithful heart that nobly strives,
Him praise, the life of all that lives
The all-working God, the Spirit.
First Thought, first Word, first Deed, these three,
Intelligential Trinity,
That was, and is, and is to be
One mystical Divinity!
Give ear, O Earth, and know the name,
The heart's deep awe commanding!
Fall on thy knees, O man, and blame
Thy brutish understanding!
Praise Him, the great, the Triune God,
Ye stable-rooted mountains!
Ye forests old, that darkly nod!
Ye full-mouthed gushing fountains!
Titanic tempests organ-roar,
Peal thou the strong Divinity;
Unsleeping wave that licks the shore
Sound thou the sleepless Trinity!
All million-throated things that be,
Voices of life's exuberant sea
With mingled hymns adore!
Him praise who breathed into your soul
The strength which ye inherit!
Each faithful heart that nobly strives,
Him praise, the life of all that lives
The all-working God, the Spirit.
First Thought, first Word, first Deed, these three,
Intelligential Trinity,
That was, and is, and is to be
18
Give ear, O Earth, and know the name,
The heart's deep awe commanding!
Fall on thy knees, O man, and blame
Thy brutish understanding!
Praise Him, the great, the Triune God,
Ye stable-rooted mountains!
Ye forests old, that darkly nod!
Ye full-mouthed gushing fountains!
Titanic tempests organ-roar,
Peal thou the strong Divinity;
Unsleeping wave that licks the shore
Sound thou the sleepless Trinity!
All million-throated things that be,
Voices of life's exuberant sea
With mingled hymns adore!
The earthly and the heavenly host
To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
Sing glory evermore!
| Songs of Religion and Life | |