I

Thou, from the first, unborn, undying love,

Albeit we gaze not on thy glories near,

Before the face of God did'st breathe and move,

Though night and pain and ruin and death reign here.

Thou foldest, like a golden atmosphere,

The very throne of the eternal God:

Passing through thee the edicts of his fear

Are mellowed into music, borne abroad

By the loud winds, though they uprend the sea,

Even from its central deeps: thine empery

Is over all: thou wilt not brook eclipse;

Thou goest and returnest to His lips

Like lightning: thou dost ever brood above

The silence of all hearts, unutterable Love.