The Poetical Works of George Barlow In Ten [Eleven] Volumes |
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 | X. |
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MAN'S OVERTHROW
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 | The Poetical Works of George Barlow |  |
63
MAN'S OVERTHROW
Straight through the strongest heart God's arrow goes
At God's unerring will.
The strongest spirit knows
Deepliest how God can make alive or kill.
At God's unerring will.
The strongest spirit knows
Deepliest how God can make alive or kill.
Man stands erect and challenges the Lord
With fiery soul to fight.
But lo! God's sudden sword
Pierces his spirit in the midmost night.
With fiery soul to fight.
But lo! God's sudden sword
Pierces his spirit in the midmost night.
In the deep dreary moonless midnight gloom
Beside the couch One stands:
Not empty is the room:
The darkness parts at touch of unseen hands:
Beside the couch One stands:
Not empty is the room:
The darkness parts at touch of unseen hands:
And God says, “Thou wast strong and full of fire
And valiant as the sea;
I know thine heart's desire;
If I reject thy longing, what of thee?”
And valiant as the sea;
I know thine heart's desire;
If I reject thy longing, what of thee?”
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Then, face to face with the eternal Thought,
With not one star to aid,
Man feels himself as nought:
The fieriest spirit is the most afraid.
With not one star to aid,
Man feels himself as nought:
The fieriest spirit is the most afraid.
The strongest spirit is exposed the most
To the stern swordlike Thought,
And soonest of the host
Of rebels to supreme repentance brought.
To the stern swordlike Thought,
And soonest of the host
Of rebels to supreme repentance brought.
For on his strength God's strength with fiery shock
Impinges, and he cries,
“I am smitten as by a rock
Hurled from the watchful hollows of the skies!”
Impinges, and he cries,
“I am smitten as by a rock
Hurled from the watchful hollows of the skies!”
The strength of God seeks out the strongest soul
To combat,—and it breaks
The strongest, and makes whole
Soonest the heart whose very roots it shakes.
To combat,—and it breaks
The strongest, and makes whole
Soonest the heart whose very roots it shakes.
| The Poetical Works of George Barlow | |