Thine
are these orbs of light and shade;
Thou madest Life in man and brute;
Thou madest Death; and lo, thy foot
Is
on the skull which thou hast made.
Thou
wilt not leave us in the dust:
Thou madest man, he knows not why,
He thinks he was not made to die;
And
thou hast made him: thou art just.
Thou
seemest human and divine,
The highest, holiest manhood, thou:
Our wills are ours, we know not how;
Our
wills are ours, to make them thine.
Our
little systems have their day;
They have their day and cease to be:
They are but broken lights of thee,
And
thou, O Lord, art more than they.
We
have but faith: we cannot know;
For knowledge is of things we see;
And yet we trust it comes from thee,
A
beam in darkness: let it grow.
Let
knowledge grow from more to more,
But more of reverence in us dwell;
That mind and soul, according well,
May
make one music as before,
But
vaster. We are fools and slight;
We mock thee when we do not fear:
But help thy foolish ones to bear;
Help
thy vain worlds to bear thy light.
Forgive
what seem’d my sin in me;
What seem’d my worth since I began;
For merit lives from man to man,
And
not from man, O Lord, to thee.
Forgive
my grief for one removed,
Thy creature, whom I found so fair.
I trust he lives in thee, and there
I
find him worthier to be loved.
Forgive
these wild and wandering cries,
Confusions of a wasted youth;
Forgive them where they fail in truth,
And
in thy wisdom make me wise.