I PACED along The dim cathedral wrapped in reverend gloom; I heard the sweet child's song Spring upwards like a fountain; and the boom Of the tempestuous organ-music swell; The hushed low voices and the silvery bell; The incense-laden air; the kneeling throng; I knew them all, and seemed to hear the cry Of countless myriads, rising deep and strong, -- Help us! we faint, we die. Our knees are weak, our eyes are blind; We seek what we shall never find. Show but Thy face, and we are Thine, Unknown, Ineffable, Divine! I heard the loud Muezzin from the slender minaret call "To prayer, To prayer;" and lo! the busy crowd, Merchant and prince and water-carrier, all Turned from the world, and, rapt in worship, knelt, Facing the holy city; and I felt That from those myriads kneeling, prostrate, bowed, A low moan rises to the throne on high, -- Not shut out quite by error's thickest cloud, -- Help us! we faint, we die. Our knees are weak, our eyes are blind; We seek what we shall never find. Show but Thy face, and we are Thine, Unknown, Ineffable, Divine. I stood before The glaring temples on the burning plain; I heard the hideous roar Rise to the stars to drown the shrieks of pain, What time the murderous idol swept along. I listened to the innocent, mystic song, Breathed to the jewelled Lotus evermore, In the elder lands, through the ages, like a sigh, And heard in low, sweet chant, and hateful roar, -- Help us! we faint, we die. Our knees are weak, our eyes are blind; We seek what we shall never find. Show but Thy face, and we are Thine, Unknown, Ineffable, Divine! Ay: everywhere Echoes the same exceeding bitter cry. Yet can the Father bear To hide His presence from the children's eye; Lets loose on good and bad the plague and sword; And though wrong triumph, answers not a word? Only deep down in the heart doth He declare His constant presence; there, though the outward sky Be darkened, shines a little speck of fair, -- A light which cannot die. Though knees be weak, and eyes be blind; Though we may seek, and never find; Here doth His hidden glory shine, Unknown, Ineffable, Divine! |