Nicholson & Lee, eds. The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse. 1917.
Frederick William Faber (1814–1863)111. From ‘The Eternal Word’
A
God’s endless Word was spoken;
None heard but He who always spake,
And the silence was unbroken.
Oh marvellous! Oh worshipful!
No song or sound is heard,
But everywhere and every hour,
In love, in wisdom, and in power,
The Father speaks His dear Eternal Word!
For ever in the eternal land
The glorious Day is dawning;
For ever is the Father’s Light
Like an endless outspread morning.
Oh marvellous! Oh worshipful!
No song or sound is heard,
But everywhere and every hour,
In love, in wisdom, and in power,
The Father speaks His dear Eternal Word!
From the Father’s vast tranquillity,
In light co-equal glowing
The kingly consubstantial Word
Is unutterably flowing.
Oh marvellous! Oh worshipful!
No song or sound is heard,
But everywhere and every hour,
In love, in wisdom, and in power,
The Father speaks His dear Eternal Word!
For ever climbs that Morning Star
Without ascent or motion;
For ever is its daybreak shed
On the Spirit’s boundless ocean.
Oh marvellous! Oh worshipful!
No song or sound is heard,
But everywhere and every hour,
In love, in wisdom, and in power,
The Father speaks His dear Eternal Word!