| |
| HE stood upon the earth, and turned | |
| To gaze on sky and land and sea, | |
| While in his ear the whisper burned, | |
| “Behold, these all belong to thee!” | |
| |
| O wondrous call to conquests new! | 5 |
| O thrill of blood! O joy of Soul! | |
| O peaks with ever-widening view! | |
| O race, with still-receding goal! | |
| |
| He heard; he followed, evermore | |
| Stumbling and falling, wandering far, | 10 |
| Yet still advancing, while before | |
| His footsteps shone the guiding star. | |
| |
| He cleft the seas; the torrent loud | |
| He harnessed to his need or whim; | |
| He bade the lightning of the cloud | 15 |
| Run with his words, and toil for him. | |
| |
| He pierced the rock; he scaled the steep; | |
| Destroyed; created; brought to light | |
| The secrets of the deepest deep, | |
| The glories of the highest height! | 20 |
| |
| The future and the past he scanned; | |
| With sense refined and vision keen, | |
| Explored, beyond this lower land, | |
| The treasures of a realm unseen. | |
| |
| Until he stood with regal brow,— | 25 |
| No more, as on the primal sod, | |
| A creature yet ungrown, but now | |
| Lord of two worlds, and child of God! | |
| |
