When, in the dim beginning of the years, God mixed in man the raptures and the tears, And scattered through his brain the starry stuff, He said, "Behold! Yet this is not enough, For I must test his spirit to make sure That he can dare the vision and endure. "I will withdraw My face, Veil Me in shadow for a certain space, And leave behind only a broken clue, A crevice where the glory glimmers through, Some whisper from the sky, Some footprint in the road to track Me by. "I will leave man to make the fateful guess, Will leave him torn between the no and yes, Leave him unresting till he rests in Me, Drawn upward by the choice that makes him free— Leave him in tragic loneliness to choose, With all in life to win or all to lose." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BLACK MAMMY by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON SATIRES OF CIRCUMSTANCE: 3. BY HER AUNT'S GRAVE by THOMAS HARDY THE HOSTESS' DAUGHTER by JOHANN LUDWIG UHLAND CAMPS OF GREEN by WALT WHITMAN PSALM 42. QUEMADMODUM by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE THE FESTUBERT SHRINE by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN THE CRIME OF THE AGES; 1861 by AUGUSTA COOPER BRISTOL TO A JUNE BREEZE by HENRY CUYLER BUNNER FUTILITY (FOR THE INFORMATION OF PENOLOGISTS AND SOCIOLOGISTS) by DANTE CACICI |