O Thou great Father and Progenitor, Dispensing form to mists ethereal, Thou universal Builder and great One, Transcending heaven, plain and sea; The world-soul animating all, And calling latent life to glories new, Supreme, yet dwelling in the merest stone, Directing all things to the perfect state! Teach me to nurture then, within my breast, Traces of the world-Creator's self Infused to mortal members at my birth. Thus shall I rest a part of the great One: I cannot die, the world-soul is within Which wakes, to sleep in Thee, and wake again. PART III SONGS FOR THE SEASONS CREATION MORN An oily tide on a shining beach, Then, out as far as the eye can reach, The spaceless plain of waiting sea And hush of glad expectancy, Breathed from the gray, cool, sunless light That weds the day with darkest night. While out where ocean greets the sky, A range of purple cloud-peaks lie, That circle round the silent sea And hide the glorious mystery Of God's great secrets which the day May bring to us, or bear away. Then palest rose tints up the crest Of some peaks more than all the rest, And soon a single line of gold Comes tracing them in etchings bold, Till, lo; the ramparts disappear, God's sun of righteousness is here. Men's little ships sail out to sea And from the depths, call back to me, Who find in this day newly born A glimpse of earth's creation morn. THANKSGIVING Many mansions, Lord, are Thine In the universe, Thy home; Glowing planets bear Thy sign, Seething yet with primal foam. Star-clouds, still a shapeless horde, Nascent cells And burned-out shells, Unborn worlds that wait Thy word Hold Thee as their tenant, Lord. Yet no fairer home is Thine Than the fields of Autumn Earth, Where the fruit of tree and vine Spread a feast of matchless worth; Every field her gift hath sent, All the year her labor spent; Every man hath shared his gain From the wealth of mine and plain. Yes, the stars of newer birth By their beauty praise Thy name, All the heavens joining Earth Thy wide bounty to proclaim; All Thy mansions, Lord are fair, Yet can none with Earth compare, For Thy Holy Son dwelt there, When He came, man's life to share. ON EASTER DAY My waking eyes Behold new skies With Easter's dawning glory bright. Since Thou didst rise New meaning lies In morning's young, transforming light. For Thou art the dawn of the world, dear Lord, Our Christ of the breaking day. Death was the night And Thou, the first light That showed where God's pathway lay; Sin was the dark And Thou, the first spark That rolled the late shadows away. Thou art the dawn of the world, dear Lord, Our Christ of the coming day. A CHRISTMAS CAROL Come, weary ones, with care oppressed, Cease earth-born care and strife. Come children, too, rejoice in life, The Holy Child is born.