“Whither Shall I Go?”

I CANNOT find thee! still on restless pinion

My spirit beats the void where thou dost dwell;

I wander lost through all thy vast dominion,

And shrink beneath thy light ineffable.

I cannot know thee! even when most adoring

Before thy shrine I bend in lowliest prayer;

Beyond these bounds of thought, my thought upsoaring,

From further quest comes back; thou art not there.

Yet high above the limits of my seeing

And folded far within the inmost heart,

And deep below the deeps of conscience being,

Thy splendor shineth; there, O God, thou art.

I cannot lose thee; still in thee abiding

The end is clear, How wide so’er I roam;

The law that holds the worlds my steps is guiding,

And I must rest at last in thee, my home.