Classic Poem

He who redeems from death
Is with the unerring mighty death-force one;
There are not two vast Powers beneath the sun;
One God bestows, the same God stays, the breath.

One God, and only One,
In flower-filled Galilee
By the clear inland sea
Spake through blue waves, bright blossoms, to his Son;

Then, at the bitter end,
Built up with iron hands the cross that slew,
Aye held the spear that smote his Son's side through;—
Death, life, are one same Friend.

So, mother, unto thee and me
It may be God first spake
At crimson sweet daybreak,
Even as the Giver of long glad days to be:

Then 'neath the noontide sun
Spake still,—spake as the One
Who brought unto our door
Of rich pure blessings so divine a store:

Then lastly, it may be,
When came the sunset, then the dim night's close
(Oh night—that night!), God as sweet Death arose,
Thy Steersman still—to shores we may not see.