Classic Poem

Fall back, all worlds, into the abyss
That man may contemplate once more
That which He ever was who is;
The Eternal Essence we adore.

Angelic hierarchies! recede
Beyond extinct Creation's shade--
What were ye at the first? Decreed:
Decreed, not fashioned! thought, not made!

Like wind the untold Millenniums passed:
Sole-throned He sat; yet not alone:
Godhead in Godhead still was glassed;
The Spirit was breathed from Sire and Son.

Prime Virgin, separate and sealed;
Nor less of social Love the root!
Dimly in lowliest shapes revealed;
Entire in every Attribute:

Thou liv'st in all things and around;
To Thee external is there nought;
Thou of the boundless art the bound;
And still Creation is Thy Thought.

In vain, O God, our wings we spread;
So distant are Thou--yet so nigh.
Remains but this when all is said
For Thee to live; in Thee to die.