| Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907. | | | A Book of Sonnets.
I. The Unseen Face | | By George MacDonald (1824–1905) |
| | | “I DO beseech Thee, God, show me Thy face | |
| “Come up to Me in Sinai on the morn! | |
| Thou shalt behold as much as may be borne.” | |
| And on a rock stood Moses, lone in space. | |
| From Sinai’s top, the vaporous, thunderous place, | 5 |
| God passed in cloud, an earthy garment worn | |
| To hide, and thus reveal. In love, not scorn, | |
| He put him in a clift of the rock’s base, | |
| Covered him with his hand, his eyes to screen— | |
| Passed—lifted it: his back alone appears! | 10 |
| Ah, Moses, had he turned, and hadst thou seen | |
| The pale face crowned with thorns, baptized with tears, | |
| The eyes of the true man, by men belied, | |
| Thou hadst beheld God’s face, and straightway died. | | | | |
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