Classic Poem

FIRST VOICE .

In His image God hath moulded man,
Hence our likeness through the veil we scan;
Vaster, grander, but the self-same plan.
Hear the rumbling of His chariot run.
Smiles He in the brightness of the sun.
Frowns He ere the tempest has begun.
In the land of Beersheba and Dan
Lofty souls to clearer vision won.
Just, His promise stands for evermore,
Yet with lightning-stroke His arm subdues.
Countless blessings on the faithful pour;
Sire to son His jealous wrath pursues.
Friendship, foeship, ye are free to choose.
God, great God, we tremble and adore.

SECOND VOICE .

Man has cast his shadow on the skies.
Fringed it round with gorgeous draperies,
Bowed him down and worshipped it in awe.
Blurs, not visions, were the shapes he saw.
Toiling slow, the patient seeker tries,
Link by link, to trace the chain of law.
But beyond his utmost reach there lies
Still the gateless wall of mysteries.
What is God? The spirit of the Now;
Mainspring of the future drawing near;
Fountain of the past; the Why and How;
Cause; Force; Order: nothing more is clear.
One great question rings our little sphere;
And the answer never greets us here.

THIRD VOICE .

Through the mist there comes one little ray, —
Earth and heaven are pitiless and gray, —
Surely, surely, it will soon be day.
Hope will brighten into life anew,
Earth be green again, and waters blue, —
Shall I shut the glimmer from my view?
Dimmed and stained and broken on the way,
Still from being's very fount it flew.
All the noblest in our nature blending
Makes an image we can well adore:
Past the wall the olden skies are bending;
Still the ocean mirrors as before:
God the spirit, mounting, not descending;
God, grand God, we worship evermore.