A thought of God on earth expressed!
The silence of his perfect rest;
The patience of eternal power;
The ceaseless change from hour to hour;
Forms in alternate gloom and flame,
That bide yet evermore the same,
And do but wear a fitful guise
Reflected in our human eyes,
Which only compass in their range
The things that change, or seem to change-

The blended hues of heavenly birth
Beyond the tenderest tints of earth,
That fill and flood these spaces wide
With surges of celestial tide;
The mystery of this awful brink
Where meaner thoughts in rapture sink,
And souls see clear, tho' eyes grow dim,
While time and space are lost in Him!

Methinks I could not fail or flee
In any conflict yet to be,
Whatever pathway must be trod,
Might I but keep this thought of God!