But in the day he sips, Contented in his place, His food from human lips, And learns the human face. So tho’ his home remain Dark, and his fields untrod, The exile has this gain, To have found the face of God. Confounded at the close, Confounded standing where No further pathway shows, We find an angel there To guide us. God is good; The seeing sight is dim; He gives us solitude That we may be with Him. By that we have we lose; By what we have not, get; And where we cannot choose The crown of life is set. Lo, while we ask the stars To learn the will of God, His answer unawares Strikes sudden from the sod. Not when we wait the word The word of God is giv’n; The voice of God is heard As much from earth as heav’n. The voice of God is heard Not in the thunder-fit; A still small voice is heard, Half-heard, and that is it. * * * * * PÆANS * * * * * MAN Man putteth the world to scale And weigheth out the stars; Th’ eternal hath lost her veil, The infinite her bars; His balance he hath hung in heaven And set the sun therein. He measures the lords of light And fiery orbs that spin; No riddle of darkest night He dares not look within; Athwart the roaring wrack of stars He plumbs the chasm of heaven. The wings of the wind are his; To him the world is given; His servant the lightning is, And slave the ocean, even; He scans the mountains yet unclimb’d And sounds the solid sea. With fingers of thought he holds What is or e’er can be; And, touching it not, unfolds The sealèd mystery. The pigmy hands, eyes, head God gave A giant’s are become. But tho’ to this height sublime By labour he hath clomb, One summit he hath to climb, One deep the more to plumb— To rede himself and rule himself, And so to reach the sum. 1898. * * * * * LIFE From birth to death the life of man Is infinite on the earth, To know and do that which he can And be what he is worth. Our mortal life, however wrought, Eternity is indeed; For every moment brings a thought, And every thought’s a deed; And that is so much infinite Which may be divided much; And if we live with might and mirth Our human life is such. For him who has not might and mirth That which is not now is never; And he who can live well on earth Does live in heaven for ever. 1898. * * * * *