Classic Poem

O DOCTRINE deep, of the ages, O creed of the inmost soul,
Confessed wherever man craves for light, from Tropic sun to pole,
Thou wert not wrought in the workshop of cold scholastic brain,
Nor brought to birth like lesser creeds in intellectual pain,
Thou wert born when the wings of the Spirit brooded the soundless sea
And quickened the atoms primal to wondrous potency,
Thou wert forged when the worlds chaotic, inclosed in the fiery sun,
Were thrown from the central system and order was begun,
Thou wert shaped when God in his power said light at last should be;
Then shed thy light on our darkness, O Truth of Trinity.

We peer through the cruel spaces with orphaned worlds alive,
We look at the sentient kingdoms, where none but the strong survive,
And the faith we are bidden to cherish seems only a mocking light,
And we feel like timid children left alone in the night,
But thou art a voice to tell us a father's love is shown
In every act creative since Chaos was o'erthrown,
Thou sayest that high in heaven sits not a loveless God,
But one who comes with yearning to kiss the meanest clod;
Then we pray that our hearts forever held close to his heart shall be,
And cling to the creed that saves us, the Truth of Trinity.

We are tired of earth's oppressions, we are sick of its greed of gold,
The wrongs that are waged in the darkness, the crimes that the days unfold,
We look for the signs of sonhood in the race divinely made,
But the signs grow faint and fainter, and at last we feel afraid
That man is an engine only, set like a watch for a day,
A deft work done in the light of the sun, a sculptured form of clay, —
Till we turn to the First-begotten and find that he came to tell
That man, who is God's creation, is God's own child as well;
Then we pray that the mind of the Father in his sons fulfilled may be,
And rest with hope firm-founded on the Truth of Trinity.

The life in the woods in spring-time, when the sap runs free and warm,
The might of the oak, or cedar, that breasts the winter storm,
The joy that swells and burgeons in the fertile breast of the earth
As it brings the crocus and tulip and blushing rose to birth,
Are all from the same full fountain where the faith of man is fed,
Where feeble souls are strengthened and sad souls comforted, —
'Tis the life of a Personal Power that moves in all that is seen,
That makes the blind earth blossom, and keeps man's courage green;
O God of the worlds, unmeasured our longing is for thee,
To loftier heights uplift us through thine own Trinity!