I feel thee, here, myself, soft on my hand; Around me is thy mute, celestial presence, Reverence and awe would make me fear to stand Within thy beam, were not all Good its essence: Were not all Good its essence, and from thence All good, glad heart deriv'd, and child-like confidence. I know that there is Fear, and Grief, and Pain, Strange foes, though stranger guardian friends of Pleasure: I know that poor men lose, and rich men gain, Though oft th' unseen adjusts the seeming measure; I know that Guile may teach, while Truth must bow, Or bear contempt and shame on his benignant brow. But while thou sit'st, mightier than all, O Sun, And e'en when sharpest felt, still throned in kindness. I see that greatest and that best are one, And that all else works tow'rd it, though in blindness Evil I see, and Fear, and Grief, and Pain, Work under Good, their lord, embodied in thy reign. I see the molten gold darkly refine O'er the great sea of human joy and sorrow, I bear the deep voice of a grief divine Calling sweet notes to some diviner morrow, And though I know not how the two may part, I feel thy rays, O Sun, write it upon my heart. Upon my heart thou writest it, as thou, Heart of these worlds, art writ on by a greater: Beam'd on with love from some still mightier brow, Perhaps by that which waits some new relater; Some amaz'd man, who sees new splendors driven Thick round a Sun of suns, and fears he looks at heaven.[B] 'Tis easy for vain man, Time's growing child, To dare pronounce on thy material seeming: Heav'n, for its own good ends, is mute and mild To many a wrong of man's presumptuous dreaming. Matter, or mind, of either, what knows he? Or how with more than both thine orb divine may be! Art thou a god, indeed? or thyself heaven? And do we taste thee here in light and flowers? Art thou the first sweet place, where hearts, made even, Sing tender songs in earth-remembering bowers? Enough, my soul. Enough through thee, O Sun, To learn the sure good song--Greatest and Best are one. Enough for man to work, to hope, to love, Copying thy zeal untir'd, thy smile unscorning: Glad to see gods thick as the stars above, Bright with the God of gods' eternal morning; Round about whom perchance endless they go, Ripening their earths to heavens, as love and wisdom grow. FOOTNOTES: [A] _Rapturous_--transporting, carrying away. The reader can take the word either in its spiritual or material sense, or both; according as he agrees or disagrees with Keppler and others respecting the nature of the planetary bodies. [B] Alluding to a central sun; that is to say, a sun governing other suns, which is supposed to exist in the Constellation Hercules.