Poems (Gifford)/Incomprehensible
INCOMPREHENSIBLE.
From the distant east do ye think to span
To the farthest west of the shoreless sky?
And those wistful eyes, do they hope to scan
To the utmost bound of the light on high?
To the farthest west of the shoreless sky?
And those wistful eyes, do they hope to scan
To the utmost bound of the light on high?
Can ye tell the weight of the giant hill
Round whose lofty summit the cloudlets roll?
Can ye glance and see in the tiny rill
Its deep fountain head, and its ocean goal?
Round whose lofty summit the cloudlets roll?
Can ye glance and see in the tiny rill
Its deep fountain head, and its ocean goal?
Have ye power to hold in that slender hand
The immense expanse of the vast, deep sea?
Can ye count the grains of its circling sand?
Can ye count its numerous tenantry?
The immense expanse of the vast, deep sea?
Can ye count the grains of its circling sand?
Can ye count its numerous tenantry?
Can ye grasp the truth in its perfect force
Of an omnipresent, almighty Friend,
An eternal God, of all life the source,
Himself ne'er having a source, or end?
Of an omnipresent, almighty Friend,
An eternal God, of all life the source,
Himself ne'er having a source, or end?
Can ye comprehend, in its depth and height,
The unmeasured love of the Lord the King,
That defies all knowledge, all reason's might,
Yet that speaks and echoes in everything?
The unmeasured love of the Lord the King,
That defies all knowledge, all reason's might,
Yet that speaks and echoes in everything?
Ah! not now! not here! yet not vain, not lost
Are those earnest yearnings for truth and love;
Ye may taste e'en now, and, life's Jordan crossed,
Ye may know in full in the realms above.
Are those earnest yearnings for truth and love;
Ye may taste e'en now, and, life's Jordan crossed,
Ye may know in full in the realms above.