| Nicholson & Lee, eds. The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse. 1917. |
| |
| 349. On the Holy Trinity |
| By John Gray (b. 1893) |
| |
| ERE aught began, | |
| Beyond the span | |
| Of sense, the Word | |
| (O priceless hoard!) | |
| Was, which God fashioned in his youth. | 5 |
| O Fatherbreast, | |
| Wherefrom, with zest, | |
| The Word did bloom! | |
| Yet did the womb | |
| Retain the Word in very truth. | 10 |
| Of twain a fount, | |
| Love paramount, | |
| The double troth, | |
| Known unto both, | |
| The ever gentle Spirit flows. | 15 |
| Equal, and none | |
| Can make but one; | |
| One are the three; | |
| Yet what it be | |
| That triple spirit only knows. | 20 |
| The triple crown | |
| Hath deep renown; | |
| Ring without clasp | |
| No sense can grasp, | |
| It is a depth without a floor. | 25 |
| Is rest, is grace, | |
| Shape, form and space; | |
| The source, the ring | |
| Of everything; | |
| A point which never moveth more | 30 |
| To its abode | |
| There is no road; | |
| Curiously | |
| It beareth thee | |
| Into a desert strangely strange. | 35 |
| Is wide, is broad, | |
| Unmeasured road; | |
| The desert has | |
| Nor time nor space, | |
| Its way is wonderfully strange. | 40 |
| That desert plot | |
| No foot hath trod; | |
| Created wit | |
| Ne’er came to it; | |
| It is, and no man knoweth what. | 45 |
| Is there, is here, | |
| Is far, is near, | |
| Is deep, is high, | |
| And none reply | |
| Whether this thing be this or that. | 50 |
| Is light, is pure, | |
| Is most obscure, | |
| Nameless, alone, | |
| It is unknown, | |
| Free both of end and origin. | 55 |
| It standeth dark, | |
| Is bare and stark; | |
| Reveal his face | |
| Who knows its place, | |
| And say what fashion it is in. | 60 |
| Become a child, | |
| Deaf, blind and mild; | |
| Be eye and thought | |
| Reduced to naught, | |
| Self and negation driven back, | 65 |
| Space, time resign, | |
| And every sign, | |
| No leader hath | |
| The narrow path, | |
| So com’st thou to the desert track. | 70 |
| O soul, abroad, | |
| Go in to God; | |
| Sink as a yes | |
| In nothingness, | |
| Sink in unfathomable flood. | 75 |
| I fly from thee, | |
| Thou greetest me; | |
| Self left behind, | |
| If I but find | |
| Thee, O thou good of every good! | 80 |
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