Classic Poem

The first of the seals was opened; the gold of the dawn unsealed
The last of the seals was opened, the red day tottered and reeled
The clouds that are bridled like dragons, the stars that are shaken like swords
Daily they come and nightly: are they not great and the Lord's?

But the people behold them always
They pass them and cry without fear
" If the sun be dark we will listen
If the moon be blood we will hear "
But the pomp of the suns goes onward
And the race of the moons goes by:
And we stand in the heart of a marvel
You and the earth and I.

The hands of the Lord still fashion, with fire, with blood and with earth
And measureless wheels go even in the twilight house of birth
And the life comes fair as sunrise, and the lives roll in like a sea
A babe, O Lord, from thy palace: is not each a prophet of thee?

But the people receive them always
They pass them and cry without fear
" If one come in the cloud, we will listen
If one rise from the dead we will hear "
And, like star on star, they are rising
Bright clouds in the night drift by
And we dwell in the thick of a gospel
Thou and the world and I.