With all the soul within me and suppressed
Before the sunset, heard I, and confessed,
A breath of God from out the whispered hand
Held o'er the lips of the great speaking west.
Heard it, and all the soul within me burned!
Heard it, and wondered at the secret learned;
And all the busy accidents of life
O'erwhelmed it then; it never has returned.
Thus once the doors of heaven wide open stand;
The voice is heard, of promise or command;
Is seen the gleam; and then the portals close
And nature grows again upon the land.