George Willis Cooke, comp. The Poets of Transcendentalism: An Anthology. 1903.
The QuestEliza Scudder (18211896)
“Whither shall I go from Thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence?”
I
My spirit beats the void where Thou dost dwell;
I wander lost through all Thy vast dominion,
And shrink beneath Thy Light ineffable.
Before Thy throne I bend in lowliest prayer;
Beyond these bounds of thought, my thought upsoaring,
From farthest quest comes back; Thou art not there.
And folded far within the inmost heart,
And deep below the deeps of conscious being,
Thy splendor shineth; there, O God, Thou art.
The end is clear, how wide soe’er I roam;
The Hand that holds the worlds my steps is guiding,
And I must rest at last, in Thee, my home.