English Poetry III: From Tennyson to Whitman.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 642. The Higher Pantheism |
| | | Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) |
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| THE SUN, the moon, the stars, the seas, the hills and the plains,— | |
| Are not these, O Soul, the Vision of Him, who reigns? | |
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| Is not the Vision He, tho’ He be not that which He seems? | |
| Dreams are true while they last, and do we not live in dreams? | |
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| Earth, these solid stars, this weight of body and limb, | 5 |
| Are they not sign and symbol of thy division from Him? | |
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| Dark is the world to thee; thyself art the reason why, | |
| For is He not all but thou, that hast power to feel “I am I”? | |
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| Glory about thee, without thee; and thou fulfillest thy doom, | |
| Making Him broken gleams and a stifled splendor and gloom. | 10 |
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| Speak to Him, thou, for He hears, and Spirit with Spirit can meet— | |
| Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet. | |
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| God is law, say the wise; O Soul, and let us rejoice. | |
| For if He thunder by law the thunder is yet His voice. | |
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| Law is God, say some; no God at all, says the fool, | 15 |
| For all we have power to see is a straight staff bent in a pool; | |
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| And the ear of man cannot hear, and the eye of man cannot see; | |
| But if we could see and hear, this Vision—were it not He? | |
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