Poems (Hoffman)/Life's Great Question
LIFE'S GREAT QUESTION
1886
1886
Like a rushing Alpine torrent
Fed by springs of melting snow,
Pouring downward from the distance
To the pasture-lands below,
Pours the tide of life's great questions.
Seething, foaming, as they go,
Ever changing, as they thunder
Downward from the long ago.
Science, with her vaunted wisdom,
Utters forth her mighty voice;
And the clang of war and discord,
Boasts of theories their choice;
Fed by springs of melting snow,
Pouring downward from the distance
To the pasture-lands below,
Pours the tide of life's great questions.
Seething, foaming, as they go,
Ever changing, as they thunder
Downward from the long ago.
Science, with her vaunted wisdom,
Utters forth her mighty voice;
And the clang of war and discord,
Boasts of theories their choice;
While persuasion, calm and gentle,
Mingles with the tumult's roar;
As, adown through time-worn channels,
Life's great themes and problems pour;
Till the traveler, faint and dizzy,
Gazing on the shapeless mass,
Looks in vain for truth's bright crystal
In the waters as they pass.
Looks in vain in creeds and doctrines
For that one unsullied stone,
Looks in vain in church and temple
For the truth enshrined alone.
Mingles with the tumult's roar;
As, adown through time-worn channels,
Life's great themes and problems pour;
Till the traveler, faint and dizzy,
Gazing on the shapeless mass,
Looks in vain for truth's bright crystal
In the waters as they pass.
Looks in vain in creeds and doctrines
For that one unsullied stone,
Looks in vain in church and temple
For the truth enshrined alone.
Looks in vain amid the tumult
For one attribute of God,
That has stood unshaken—never
By false doctrine downward trod.
Looks in vain to find the solving
Of the soul's immortal end;
Looks to find but wild confusion
Where the thoughts of time contend.
What of creeds? There is one only
That shall never mouldering lie,
Like the fadeless sun, that lonely
Monarch of the starless sky,
For one attribute of God,
That has stood unshaken—never
By false doctrine downward trod.
Looks in vain to find the solving
Of the soul's immortal end;
Looks to find but wild confusion
Where the thoughts of time contend.
What of creeds? There is one only
That shall never mouldering lie,
Like the fadeless sun, that lonely
Monarch of the starless sky,
Shining downward through the ages,
Far above the torrent's moan,
Studied by the patriarch Moses,
From the tablets made of stone;
And rehearsed in song and story
In the life of Christ, the Lord,
With the rays of Heaven-born glory
In each loving deed and word.
What if temples, grand cathedrals,
Lift to Heaven their domes and spires
And the swell of thrilling anthems
Rolls from grand imposing choirs?
Far above the torrent's moan,
Studied by the patriarch Moses,
From the tablets made of stone;
And rehearsed in song and story
In the life of Christ, the Lord,
With the rays of Heaven-born glory
In each loving deed and word.
What if temples, grand cathedrals,
Lift to Heaven their domes and spires
And the swell of thrilling anthems
Rolls from grand imposing choirs?
Yet outside their sacred precincts,
Where no listening crowds attend,
Richer, grander, holier praises
To Jehovah's throne ascend.
Not alone to human temples
Do His worshipers repair,
'Tis His children's sanctuary
Wheresoe'er they bow in prayer;
In the field, the plain, the forest,
In the city's crowding throng,
Hearts have offered prayers unuttered
Souls have breathed immortal song.
Where no listening crowds attend,
Richer, grander, holier praises
To Jehovah's throne ascend.
Not alone to human temples
Do His worshipers repair,
'Tis His children's sanctuary
Wheresoe'er they bow in prayer;
In the field, the plain, the forest,
In the city's crowding throng,
Hearts have offered prayers unuttered
Souls have breathed immortal song.
Look above thee; golden turrets,
Perish in the distant blue;
Look below thee; flowery carpets
Spread the floor of nature through;
And those roofs of palest azure,
And those floors, before, behind,
Spreading out in matchless grandeur,
Hold and cover all mankind.
This thy temple-home, erected
By an Architect divine;
'Tis thy Father's sanctuary
And thy Father's house is thine.
Perish in the distant blue;
Look below thee; flowery carpets
Spread the floor of nature through;
And those roofs of palest azure,
And those floors, before, behind,
Spreading out in matchless grandeur,
Hold and cover all mankind.
This thy temple-home, erected
By an Architect divine;
'Tis thy Father's sanctuary
And thy Father's house is thine.
What is God? A cruel tyrant
Ruling with a rod of iron,
Armed with stern, unyielding justice,
Or in kindlier mood benign,
Staying whom he will, or blessing
By an unexplained decree;
Punishing one man's transgressing
While another wanders free?
God, who made the skies above us,
God, who made the earth so fair,
God, whose loving kindness shineth
In the earth, the sea, the air.
Ruling with a rod of iron,
Armed with stern, unyielding justice,
Or in kindlier mood benign,
Staying whom he will, or blessing
By an unexplained decree;
Punishing one man's transgressing
While another wanders free?
God, who made the skies above us,
God, who made the earth so fair,
God, whose loving kindness shineth
In the earth, the sea, the air.
What O mighty current rolling
To eternity's great sea
Are thy wild conflicting murmurs
Of the all-wise Deity?
Let false science, in her blindness,
Lead her fools to black despair;
Lo, thy Father's loving kindness
Falleth 'round thee, everywhere.
Read in earth's frail starry blossoms
Or those higher stars above,
God is strength and power and wisdom,
God is justice, mercy, love.
To eternity's great sea
Are thy wild conflicting murmurs
Of the all-wise Deity?
Let false science, in her blindness,
Lead her fools to black despair;
Lo, thy Father's loving kindness
Falleth 'round thee, everywhere.
Read in earth's frail starry blossoms
Or those higher stars above,
God is strength and power and wisdom,
God is justice, mercy, love.
Soul of mine, what is thy portion?
Oh ye roaring floods be still.
God, the loving, all-wise Father,
Shall His promises fulfill.
Thine to live while temples crumble,
Thine to live while creeds decay,
Thine to live while worlds dissolving
Melt in flames or dust away.
Thine to sing o'er death victorious,
While death's vanquished armies rage;
Thine to claim in joy and gladness
An immortal heritage.
Oh ye roaring floods be still.
God, the loving, all-wise Father,
Shall His promises fulfill.
Thine to live while temples crumble,
Thine to live while creeds decay,
Thine to live while worlds dissolving
Melt in flames or dust away.
Thine to sing o'er death victorious,
While death's vanquished armies rage;
Thine to claim in joy and gladness
An immortal heritage.