322. Emanation

OUT of the depths of the Infinite Being eternal,

Out of the cloud more bright than the brightness of sun,

Out of the inmost the essence of spirit supernal,

We issued as one.

First essence electric, concentric, revolving, subduing,

We throbbed through the ether, a part of the infinite germ,

Dissolving, resolving, absorbing, reforming, renewing,

The endless in term.

Through forms multifarious onward and ever advancing,

Progressing through ether from molecule to planet and star,

Forms infinitesimal revealed by the sunbeam while dancing,

Controlled from afar.

Then part of the elements swayed by invisible forces,

The spirit of flame interchangeably water and air,

And matter more gross, still moulded by stars in their courses,

To forms new and rare.

Part of the salt of the sea—of the fathomless ocean—

Part of the growth of the earth, and the light hid within,

The Boundless and Endless revealed in each varying motion

Unknown yet to sin.

The breath of all life, harmonious, ductile, complying,

Obedient lapsed in the force of the Infinite Will,

Untiring, unresting, incessant, unknowing, undying,

Love’s law we fulfil.

Spirit of growth in the rocks, and the ferns, and the mosses,

Spirit of growth in the trees, and the grasses, and flowers,

Rejoicing in life, unconscious of changes or losses,

Of days or of hours.

Spirit of growth in the bird and the bee, ever tending

To form more complex its beauty and use thus combined,

Adapted perfection, the finite and infinite blending,

One gleam from One Mind.

Thus spirally upward we come from the depths of creation,

The man and the woman—the garden of Eden have found,

And joined by the Lord in an endless and holy relation

Ensphered and made round.

The innermost law of their being fulfilling, obeying,

The King and the Queen, perfected, companioned, are crowned,

The Incomprehensible thus in expression conveying

Its ultimate bound.

Obedience still is the law of each fresh emanation,

The prayer to the Father, ‘Not my will, but Thy will be done,’

Then deathless, immortal, we pass through all forms of creation,

The twain lost in One.