IN the beginning was God. Beyond Time’s threshold he hovered,
Back of the earliest dawn or the flush of the first fair spring.
Farther than eye has disclosed or the keenest thought has discovered,
Moved in the silences vast the Maker of everything.
Back of the first heart-ties and the first warm heart-fires lighted,
Back of gleaming sky, the sea, and the shining sod,
Back of the first fond dream that a hopeful heart e’er sighted,
Lingered the Soul Divine and brooded the Love of God.
IN the beginning was God. O’er struggle and strife diurnal,
The void, and the mist, and the darkness, the mire, and the slime, and the clay,
Through the long course of the ages has watched the Spirit Eternal
Seeking for men the dawn of a better and kindlier day.
Brooding, watching, and hoping--but, withal, ever beseeching,
Over the track of time a saving shade it has cast,
And into the distant future as far as the years are reaching.
In the beginning was God, and God shall be at the last.