They Shall Be Satisfied
Once, in a dream, I saw the Saviour’s face!
That Face within its aureole of Light,
Star, moon and sun, forever, to all night-
And in its glance such tenderness and grace,
That straightway all my travail fled from me:
Bruised, broken, prostrate, hopeless, unfaithed, all
Life’s burden, that had weighed me to my fall;
For I had walked my soul’s Gethsemane
Defeated, where He soared to victory.
I saw His Face! Throughout the rise and set
Of the eternal suns can I forget?
No question further where was all reply,
Nor ever further need to satisfy-
And ah, what blessing, where had been what curse!
He filled my soul, as He the universe-
He was the Understanding, infinite,
And O, the Peace, dear Christ, the Peace of it!
An Atom, formless, in the void of space,
Wherein but the One presence, All in All,
That drew me, drew me, until like a cry,
Was felt at last the pulse of my desire-
‘Life! Life! O Thou that Art, give to me to be! ’
Eon on eon, change evolving change,
Time, time almost that seemed eternity,
And then the Being I! the answered prayer!
The happier, wiser, greater, now than then-
Sensate to stand upon one grain of sand
Of this small sparkle of the Universe-
Keen to its measureless immensity,
With all the questionings unsatisfied?
Of what avail? An Atom, still, in space,
Wherein the Light obscurer grows, recedes-
That may not see, nor reach, nor understand.
Ah! did the Source, all-merciful, foresee,
And add to Life the greater boon Return,
And end of all?
Or is it end of all?
