| George William (“A. E.”) Russell (1867–1935). Collected Poems by A.E. 1913. |
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| 42. The Voice of the Waters |
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| WHERE the Greyhound River windeth through a loneliness so deep, | |
| Scarce a wild fowl shakes the quiet that the purple boglands keep, | |
| Only God exults in silence over fields no man may reap. | |
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| Where the silver wave with sweetness fed the tiny lives of grass | |
| I was bent above, my image mirrored in the fleeting glass, | 5 |
| And a voice from out the water through my being seemed to pass. | |
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| “Still above the waters brooding, spirit, in thy timeless quest; | |
| Was the glory of thine image trembling over east and west | |
| Not divine enough when mirrored in the morning water’s breast?” | |
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| With the sighing voice that murmured I was borne to ages dim | 10 |
| Ere the void was lit with beauty breathed upon by seraphim, | |
| We were cradled there together folded in the peace in Him. | |
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| One to be the master spirit, one to be the slave awoke, | |
| One to shape itself obedient to the fiery words we spoke, | |
| Flame and flood and stars and mountains from the primal waters broke. | 15 |
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| I was huddled in the heather when the vision failed its light, | |
| Still and blue and vast above me towered aloft the solemn height, | |
| Where the stars like dewdrops glistened on the mountain slope of night. | |
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