Canto CXXII

That which we dare invoke to bless;

      Our dearest faith, our ghastliest doubt;

      He, They, One, All; within, without;

The Power in darkness whom we guess;

I found Him not in world or sun,

      Or eagle's wing, or insect's eye;

      Nor thro' the questions men may try,

The petty cobwebs we have spun:

If e'er when faith had fall'n asleep,

      I heard a voice 'believe no more'

      And heard an ever-breaking shore

That tumbled in the Godless deep;

A warmth within the breast would melt

      The freezing reason's colder part,

      And like a man in wrath the heart

Stood up and answer'd 'I have felt.'

No, like a child in doubt and fear:

      But that blind clamour made me wise;

      Then was I as a child that cries,

But, crying, knows his father near;

And what I seem beheld again

      What is, and no man understands;

      And out of darkness came the hands

That reach thro' nature, moulding men.