Classic Poem

Come forth, ye wise ones — ye who can
Decipher Nature's mystic plan —
Come, sound me but the depths of man.

What am I? and whence have I come?
No answer save a dreary hum —
Oh! why, ye wise ones, are ye dumb?

What is this house in which I dwell?
Alas! alas! there's none can tell;
Oh, Nature keeps her secret well!

And all I hear, and touch, and see,
Time and creation, are to me
A marvel and a mystery!

Great Ruler of the earth and sky,
Oh! from my spirit's depths I cry,
Almighty Father, what am I?

And what is all this world I see?
Is it what it appears to be,
An awful, stern reality?

And are these men that come and go,
Or but the shades of Joy and Woe,
All flitting through this vale below?

And what is Time, with all her cares,
Her wrinkles, furrows, and grey hairs,
The hag that swallows all she bears?

The mystic where, the when, the how,
The awful, everlasting now,
The fun'ral wreath upon my brow?

And for what purpose am I here —
A stranger in an unknown sphere —
A thing of doubt, of hope, and fear —

A waif on time, all tempest-tost —
A stranger on an unknown coast —
A weary, wand'ring, wond'ring ghost?

Didst thou not, Father, shape my course?
Or am I but a causeless force —
A stream that issues from no source?

Ah, no! within myself I see
An endless realm of mystery,
A great, a vast infinity!

A house of flesh, a frail abode,
Where dwell the demon and the God;
A soaring seraph and a clod;

The hall of the celestial Nine,
The filthy sty of grov'lling swine,
The animal and the divine;

Creation's puzzle, false and true,
The light and dark, the old and new,
The slave, and yet the sovran, too;

Angel and demon, Nero, Paul,
And creeping things upon the wall,
I am the brother of them all.

A part of all things, first and last,
Link'd to the future and the past,
At my own soul I glare aghast.

A spark from the eternal caught,
A living, loving thing of thought,
A miracle in me is wrought!

A being that can never die,
More wonderful than earth and sky,
A terror to myself am I.

My spirit's sweep shall have no bound.
Oh! shall I sail the deep profound,
A terror with a glory crown'd?

When from this dust and darkness free,
All glorified, shall these eyes see
The All in All eternally?