While some dread presence, all the darkness filling,
Crept round my heart, its healthy pulses chilling;
Making the night, so awful unto me,
More fearful with that word Eternity.
So that my spirit, trembling and afraid,
Bowed down itself before its God, and prayed
For His strong arm of terror to be stayed;
And sighed Eternity
From its white lips, as the dark sea, subsiding,
Sank into broken murmurs; and the gliding
Of the soothed waters seemed once more to me
The whisper I first heard, Eternity.
But now I mocked not what the ripple said:
I only reverently bent my head,
While the pure stars, unveiled, their lustre shed
Upon the peaceful sea—
And the mild moon, with a majestic motion,
Uprose, and shed upon the murmuring ocean,
Her calm and radiant glory, as if she
Knew it the symbol of Eternity.
HYMN.
Down through the dark, my God,
Reach me Thy hand;
Guide me along the road
I fail to understand.
Blindly I grope my way,
In doubt and fear,
Uncertain when I pray
If Thou art near.
O, God, renew my trust,
Hear when I cry;
