| BETWIXT the dawning and the day it came | |
| Upon me like a spell, | |
| While tolled a distant bell, | |
| A wondrous vision but without a name | |
| In pomp of shining mist and shadowed flame, | 5 |
| Exceeding terrible; | |
| Before me seemed to open awful Space, | |
| And sheeted tower and spire | |
| With forms of shrouded ’tire | |
| Arose and beckoned with unearthly grace, | 10 |
| I felt a Presence though I saw no face | |
| But the dark rolling fire. | |
| |
| And then a Voice as sweet and soft as tears | |
| But yet of gladness part, | |
| Thrilled through my inmost heart, | 15 |
| Which told the secret of the solemn years | |
| And swept away the clouds of gloomy fears, | |
| The riddles raised by art; | |
| Till all my soul was bathed with trembling joy | |
| And lost in dreadful bliss, | 20 |
| As at God’s very kiss, | |
| While the earth shrivelled up its broken toy, | |
| And like a rose the heavens no longer coy | |
| Laid bare their blue abyss. | |
| |
| The giant wheels and all the hidden springs | 25 |
| Of this most beauteous globe, | |
| Which man may never probe, | |
| Burst on me with a blaze of angel wings | |
| And each bright orb that like a diamond clings | |
| To the veiled Father’s robe: | 30 |
| I saw with vision that was more than sight, | |
| The levers and the laws | |
| That fashion stars as straws | |
| And link with perfect loveliness of right, | |
| In the pure duty that is pure delight | 35 |
| And to one Center draws. | |
| |
| I knew with sudden insight all was best, | |
| The passion and the pain, | |
| The searching that seem vain | |
| But lead if by dim blood-stained steps to Rest. | 40 |
| And only are the beatings of God’s Breast | |
| Beneath the iron chain; | |
| I knew each work was blessèd in its place, | |
| The eagle and the dove, | |
| While Nature was the glove | 45 |
| Of that dear Hand which everywhere we trace, | |
| I felt a Presence though I saw no face, | |
| And it was boundless Love. | |
