_O God,_ whose great inscrutable purposes
(Seen only of the one all-seeing eye)
Are as unchangeable as the azure sky,
And as fulfilled of infinite mysteries:
Are like a fast-locked castle without keys
Whereof the gates are very strong and high,
Impenetrable, and we poor fools die
Nor even know what thing beyond them is:
O God, by whom men's lives are multiplied,
Are scattered broadcast in the world like grain,
And after long time reaped again and stored,
O Thou who only canst be glorified
By man's own passion and the supreme pain,
Accept this sacrifice of blood outpoured.
"Sun and Shadow and Winds of Spring"
_Sun_ and shadow and winds of spring,
Love and laughter and hope and fame,
Cloud and storm-light over the hills,
Tears and passion and sordid shame:
All, all are but as quenched fire
And vanish'd smoke to him that lies
Amid the silence of the trees
Under the silence of the skies.
"Let us tell Quiet Stories of Kind Eyes"
_Let_ us tell quiet stories of kind eyes
And placid brows where peace and learning sate:
Of misty gardens under evening skies
Where four would walk of old, with steps sedate.
Let's have no word of all the sweat and blood,
Of all the noise and strife and dust and smoke
(We who have seen Death surging like a flood,
Wave upon wave, that leaped and raced and broke).
Or let's sit silently, we three together,
Around a wide hearth-fire that's glowing red,
Giving no thought to all the stormy weather
That flies above the roof-tree overhead.
And he, the fourth, that lies all silently
In some far-distant and untended grave,
Under the shadow of a shattered tree,
Shall leave the company of the hapless brave,
And draw nigh unto us for memory's sake,
Because a look, a word, a deed, a friend,
Are bound with cords that never a man may break,
Unto his heart for ever, until the end.
"Save that Poetic Fire"
_Save_ that poetic fire
Burns in the hidden heart,
Save that the full-voiced choir
Sings in a place apart,
Man that's of woman born,
With all his imaginings,
Were less than the dew of morn,
Less than the least of things.