And here, though fear be less than delight, and awe

Be one with desire and with worship of earth and thee,

So mild seems now thy secret and speechless law,

So fair and fearless and faithful and godlike she,

So soft the spell of thy whisper on stream and sea,

Yet man should fear lest he see what of old men saw

And withered: yet shall I quail if thy breath smite me.

Lord God of life and of light and of all things fair,

Lord God of ravin and ruin and all things dim,

Death seals up life, and darkness the sunbright air,

And the stars that watch blind earth in the deep night swim

Laugh, saying, "What God is your God, that ye call on him?

What is man, that the God who is guide of our way should care

If day for a man be golden, or night be grim?"

[Pg 135]

But thou, dost thou hear? Stars too but abide for a span,

Gods too but endure for a season; but thou, if thou be

God, more than shadows conceived and adored of man,

Kind Gods and fierce, that bound him or made him free,

The skies that scorn us are less in thy sight than we,

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