Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, GOD OF THE HUMAN HEART, by AMELIA WOODWARD TRUESDELL


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

GOD OF THE HUMAN HEART, by                    
First Line: God of the open air!' god of the human heart!
Last Line: "thy footsteps make our dawn, ""god of the open air."
Subject(s): God; Religion; Van Dyke, Henry (1852-1933); Theology


"God of the Open Air!" God of the Human Heart!
On heights, though Thou art there, of sorrow Thou art part.
God of the forest arch! God of the altar-flame!
Beneath the skies or groinéd roof, Thou art the same.

Be it cathedral choir or swinging bird
Thou hearest singing in Thy praise,
They bring unto Thine ear the same sweet word
From gargoyled tower or copse of bending sprays.

In busy streets where we are smallest part
Of currents gushing from the city's heart,
In dens or gilded crypts of crime, some spark
Of light I find,—some thought, some hope, some mark
Of Thee, illuminating with Thy sweet control
Some secret impulse of a sin-stained soul.

In death throes of the hopes that fall
When we to earth our dreams of service fling,
In bitterness of joys that pall,
In fruitless Autumn from a blossoming Spring,—
Though we be dumb with failures, Thou art there,
Bringing life-buoyance of the open air.

In sickness when the pulse is low with midnight chill,
And death-moths flutter round the candle's flare,
Thou walkest softly on the night, and lo! the thrill
Of life is in the light which follows where
Thy footsteps make our dawn, "God of the Open Air."





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