Receive the God, be it love that he brings or dread.

The naked noon is upon me: the fierce dumb spell,

The fearful charm of the strong sun's imminent might,

Unmerciful, steadfast, deeper than seas that swell,

Pervades, invades, appals me with loveless light,

With harsher awe than breathes in the breath of night.

Have mercy, God who art all! For I know thee well,

How sharp is thine eye to lighten, thine hand to smite.

[Pg 132]

The whole wood feels thee, the whole air fears thee: but fear

So deep, so dim, so sacred, is wellnigh sweet.

For the light that hangs and broods on the woodlands here,

Intense, invasive, intolerant, imperious, and meet

To lighten the works of thine hands and the ways of thy feet,

Is hot with the fire of the breath of thy life, and dear

As hope that shrivels or shrinks not for frost or heat.

Thee, thee the supreme dim godhead, approved afar,

Perceived of the soul and conceived of the sense of man,

We scarce dare love, and we dare not fear: the star

We call the sun, that lit us when life began

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