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Home  »  The Poets of Transcendentalism  »  Augusta Cooper Bristol (1835–1910)

George Willis Cooke, comp. The Poets of Transcendentalism: An Anthology. 1903.

The Old Song and the New

Augusta Cooper Bristol (1835–1910)

THE OLD

CLOSE are the shadows and dim is the day;

God is away from the world!

Twilight encloseth the finite for aye;

God is away from the world!

Outward Humanity leaneth in vain,

Straining her vision a witness to gain

Of the background being—the infinite plain;—

God is away from the world!

He hath no part in the voices of earth;

God is away from the world!

Man hath appraised them, and noted their worth;

God is away from the world!

Gather the sounds of the sea and the air,

Harmonies subtle, and symphonies rare,—

Still not a whisper from Deity there;

God is away from the world!

Vainly we seek with the eye and the ear;

God is away from the world!

His vesture and footprints no longer appear;

God is away from the world!

He cometh no more with a daily accost

To the finite; the garden is cold with the frost,

And the echoes of Eden forever are lost:

God is away from the world.

Heaven hath no actual commerce with man;

God is away from the world!

He hath perfected His purpose and plan;

God is away from the world!

Creation is finished; He sitteth apart,

In a glory too dread for the scene of His art;

Too piercingly pure for Humanity’s heart;

God is away from the world!

Truth is not ours, in its absolute ray;—

God is away from the world!

Only poor gleams of the actual day;

God is away from the world!

We reach not the substance; we touch but the screen;

Our hope is the victim that ’s lifted between

The real and the seeming, the Christ-Nazarene;

God is away from the world!

THE NEW

Heirs of the Morning, we walk in the light;

God is forever with man!

A day that hath never a noon or a night;

God is forever with man!

A day without limit, whose glories unfold

The statutes that time and eternity hold;

An endless becoming its measure and mould;

God is forever with man!

He sitteth a guest in Humanity’s soul;

God is forever with man!

Life leadeth on to an infinite goal;

God is forever with man!

Inward, not outward, is Deity’s shrine,

The Presence Eternal—the Spirit Divine,

And being becomes immortality’s sign;

God is forever with man!

Truth is not veiled to mortality’s eye;

God is forever with man!

We have a witness on which to rely;

God is forever with man!

The word is eternal, and cometh to all;

And the inward rebuke, and the heart’s ceaseless call,

Are tones from the lips of the Father that fall;

God is forever with man!

Of all that is real the human hath part;

God is forever with man!

Our roots are the veins of the Infinite Heart;

God is forever with man!

The Christ liveth ever in creature disguise;

The Logos by which every soul shall arise

The gospel and glory of self-sacrifice;

God is forever with man!

Sing, little bluebird, the message ye bring;

God is forever with man!

Cleave the soft air with a rapturous wing;

God is forever with man!

Warble the story to forest and rill,

Sweep up the valley and bear to the hill

The sacred refrain of your passionate trill;

God is forever with man!

Open bright roses, and blossom the thought;

God is forever with man!

Precious the meaning your beauty hath wrought;

God is forever with man!

Spread out the sweet revelation of bloom,

Lift and release from an odorous tomb,

The secret embalmed in a honeyed perfume;

God is forever with man!

Dance, happy billow, and say to the shore,

God is forever with man!

Echo, sea-caverns, the truth evermore,

God is forever with man!

Bear on, Creation, the symbol and sign,

That being unfolds in an aura divine,

The soul moveth on in an infinite line;

God is forever with man!