SEA-HORIZONS
Thesorrowful expanse from heaven to heaven,From zone to zone, from deep to height above,The mute arch of the everlasting heavenBends over me with Your unwearied love.Immeasurable, unutterable, andsoundless—Wide as the east from the west Your love is wide;The unfathomable distances are boundlessInfinite tenderness on every side.Against the dark strength of Your huge enduranceMy little being beats her baffled wings,Lifts her shrill voice, and wounds the calm assuranceAnd tenderness of Your large evenings.In the vast robes of Your serene compassionShe hides her soiled and burning face ofshame—Your solemn and inexorable passionLifts her blurred eyes to meet Your glance of flame.As bread that for my daily fare is broken,The eternal loveliness before mespread—Unutterable gesture—word unspoken,In the proud silences forever said!The sun puts forth his strength, the reaches shimmerWith inarticulate rapture, and the proudWaters are thrilled; the fields of ocean glimmerWith shifting light and overshadowing cloud.Noon upon noon in heaven takes up his station,Day follows night, and night succeeds to day:Your infinite and lonely meditationSinks with the sunset down the starry way.Veiled is the Vast: the heaven of evening burning.Reveals on the large waters of the seaHopelessness—hopelessness—the patient yearningAnd dumb caress of the Immensity.What message have You left for me, what tokenOf Your lone love, whose laboring Will has wroughtThe firmament over my head, and spokenUnto my nothingness Your starry Thought!Sorrowful is the mighty Heart that reachesAround this brief and scornful heart ofmine—The dim curve of the melancholy beaches,And vacancies along the lone sea-line.In the huge longing of the far sea-spaces,The tremulous rim about the waters curled,Waits the eternal Gentleness, and tracesHis sad horizons ’round the fading world.Cloud beyond cloud, the arch of heaven goesover—Steep beyond steep, the patient skies descend:The illimitable wastes and waves discoverLoneliness—loneliness—without an end.Inexorable Compassion, may I neverReach the last verge and limits of Your love!Beyond me, still beyond me melt foreverThe eternal margins, fading as I move.
Thesorrowful expanse from heaven to heaven,From zone to zone, from deep to height above,The mute arch of the everlasting heavenBends over me with Your unwearied love.Immeasurable, unutterable, andsoundless—Wide as the east from the west Your love is wide;The unfathomable distances are boundlessInfinite tenderness on every side.Against the dark strength of Your huge enduranceMy little being beats her baffled wings,Lifts her shrill voice, and wounds the calm assuranceAnd tenderness of Your large evenings.In the vast robes of Your serene compassionShe hides her soiled and burning face ofshame—Your solemn and inexorable passionLifts her blurred eyes to meet Your glance of flame.As bread that for my daily fare is broken,The eternal loveliness before mespread—Unutterable gesture—word unspoken,In the proud silences forever said!The sun puts forth his strength, the reaches shimmerWith inarticulate rapture, and the proudWaters are thrilled; the fields of ocean glimmerWith shifting light and overshadowing cloud.Noon upon noon in heaven takes up his station,Day follows night, and night succeeds to day:Your infinite and lonely meditationSinks with the sunset down the starry way.Veiled is the Vast: the heaven of evening burning.Reveals on the large waters of the seaHopelessness—hopelessness—the patient yearningAnd dumb caress of the Immensity.What message have You left for me, what tokenOf Your lone love, whose laboring Will has wroughtThe firmament over my head, and spokenUnto my nothingness Your starry Thought!Sorrowful is the mighty Heart that reachesAround this brief and scornful heart ofmine—The dim curve of the melancholy beaches,And vacancies along the lone sea-line.In the huge longing of the far sea-spaces,The tremulous rim about the waters curled,Waits the eternal Gentleness, and tracesHis sad horizons ’round the fading world.Cloud beyond cloud, the arch of heaven goesover—Steep beyond steep, the patient skies descend:The illimitable wastes and waves discoverLoneliness—loneliness—without an end.Inexorable Compassion, may I neverReach the last verge and limits of Your love!Beyond me, still beyond me melt foreverThe eternal margins, fading as I move.
Thesorrowful expanse from heaven to heaven,From zone to zone, from deep to height above,The mute arch of the everlasting heavenBends over me with Your unwearied love.
Thesorrowful expanse from heaven to heaven,
From zone to zone, from deep to height above,
The mute arch of the everlasting heaven
Bends over me with Your unwearied love.
Immeasurable, unutterable, andsoundless—Wide as the east from the west Your love is wide;The unfathomable distances are boundlessInfinite tenderness on every side.
Immeasurable, unutterable, andsoundless—
Wide as the east from the west Your love is wide;
The unfathomable distances are boundless
Infinite tenderness on every side.
Against the dark strength of Your huge enduranceMy little being beats her baffled wings,Lifts her shrill voice, and wounds the calm assuranceAnd tenderness of Your large evenings.
Against the dark strength of Your huge endurance
My little being beats her baffled wings,
Lifts her shrill voice, and wounds the calm assurance
And tenderness of Your large evenings.
In the vast robes of Your serene compassionShe hides her soiled and burning face ofshame—Your solemn and inexorable passionLifts her blurred eyes to meet Your glance of flame.
In the vast robes of Your serene compassion
She hides her soiled and burning face ofshame—
Your solemn and inexorable passion
Lifts her blurred eyes to meet Your glance of flame.
As bread that for my daily fare is broken,The eternal loveliness before mespread—Unutterable gesture—word unspoken,In the proud silences forever said!
As bread that for my daily fare is broken,
The eternal loveliness before mespread—
Unutterable gesture—word unspoken,
In the proud silences forever said!
The sun puts forth his strength, the reaches shimmerWith inarticulate rapture, and the proudWaters are thrilled; the fields of ocean glimmerWith shifting light and overshadowing cloud.
The sun puts forth his strength, the reaches shimmer
With inarticulate rapture, and the proud
Waters are thrilled; the fields of ocean glimmer
With shifting light and overshadowing cloud.
Noon upon noon in heaven takes up his station,Day follows night, and night succeeds to day:Your infinite and lonely meditationSinks with the sunset down the starry way.
Noon upon noon in heaven takes up his station,
Day follows night, and night succeeds to day:
Your infinite and lonely meditation
Sinks with the sunset down the starry way.
Veiled is the Vast: the heaven of evening burning.Reveals on the large waters of the seaHopelessness—hopelessness—the patient yearningAnd dumb caress of the Immensity.
Veiled is the Vast: the heaven of evening burning.
Reveals on the large waters of the sea
Hopelessness—hopelessness—the patient yearning
And dumb caress of the Immensity.
What message have You left for me, what tokenOf Your lone love, whose laboring Will has wroughtThe firmament over my head, and spokenUnto my nothingness Your starry Thought!
What message have You left for me, what token
Of Your lone love, whose laboring Will has wrought
The firmament over my head, and spoken
Unto my nothingness Your starry Thought!
Sorrowful is the mighty Heart that reachesAround this brief and scornful heart ofmine—The dim curve of the melancholy beaches,And vacancies along the lone sea-line.
Sorrowful is the mighty Heart that reaches
Around this brief and scornful heart ofmine—
The dim curve of the melancholy beaches,
And vacancies along the lone sea-line.
In the huge longing of the far sea-spaces,The tremulous rim about the waters curled,Waits the eternal Gentleness, and tracesHis sad horizons ’round the fading world.
In the huge longing of the far sea-spaces,
The tremulous rim about the waters curled,
Waits the eternal Gentleness, and traces
His sad horizons ’round the fading world.
Cloud beyond cloud, the arch of heaven goesover—Steep beyond steep, the patient skies descend:The illimitable wastes and waves discoverLoneliness—loneliness—without an end.
Cloud beyond cloud, the arch of heaven goesover—
Steep beyond steep, the patient skies descend:
The illimitable wastes and waves discover
Loneliness—loneliness—without an end.
Inexorable Compassion, may I neverReach the last verge and limits of Your love!Beyond me, still beyond me melt foreverThe eternal margins, fading as I move.
Inexorable Compassion, may I never
Reach the last verge and limits of Your love!
Beyond me, still beyond me melt forever
The eternal margins, fading as I move.