IMMORTAL ETERNITY
Before ever land was,
Before ever the sea,
Or the soft hair of the grass,
Or the fair limbs of the tree,
Or the fresh-coloured fruit of my branches,
I was, and thy soul was in me.
First life on my sources.
First drifted and swam;
Out of me or the forces,
That save it or damn.
Out of me man and woman, and wild beast and bird.
Before God was, I am.
I the mark that is missed,
And the arrows that miss,
I the mouth that is kissed,
And the breath in the kiss,
The search and the sought and the seeker, the soul,And the body that is.
I that saw where ye trod,
The dim paths of the night,
Set the shadow called God,
In your skies to give light,
But the morning of knowledge to rise,
And the shadowless soul is in sight.
The storm winds of ages
Blow through me and cease,
The war-wind that rages,
The spring-wind of peace,
lire the breath of them roughen my tresses,
Ere eve of my blossoms increase.
All forms of all faces.
Ail works of all hands
In unsearchable places,
Of time-stricken lands
All death and all life.
And all reigns and all ruins,
Drop through me as sands,
O my sons, O too dutifulTowards God not of me,
Was not I enough beautiful,
Was it hard to be free?
For, behold, I am with you and in you and of you.
Look forth now and see.