380. Intimations by R. A. Eric Shepherd. Nicholson & Lee, eds. 1917. The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse

Nicholson & Lee, eds. The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse. 1917.

380. Intimations

By R. A. Eric Shepherd

I THINK that in the savour of some flowers
God hides the loveliness we fain would know;
And that He makes it poignant with His showers
To lure us on toward what He longs to show.
I know He seeks in tiny wistful airs	5
To give my soul bright gleams of what shall be,
And that in plainsong endings quick despairs
Glitter like angels o’er a shadowed sea.
There is no thing God may not make His own
That smelleth sweet and is of good report.…	10
The leastest thing that we have longest known
May truth reveal beyond the range of thought.
And so each tiniest act and merest ploy
May grow instinct with sacramental joy!