44
THE ALTAR OF THE RIGHTEOUSNESS
Sublime and triumphant as fire or as lightning, he
kindled the skies,
And withered with dread the desire that would look on
the light of his eyes.
Earth shuddered with worship, and knew not if hell were
not hot in her breath;
If birth were not sin, and the dew of the morning the
sweat of her death.
The watchwords of evil and good were unspoken of men
and unheard:
They were shadows that willed as he would, that were
made and unmade by his word.
His word was darkness and light, and a wisdom that
makes men mad
Sent blindness upon them for sight, that they saw but
and heard as he bade.
Cast forth and corrupt from the birth by the crime of
creation, they stood
Convicted of evil on earth by the grace of a God found
good.
