For all the strange mutations wrought Were magic feats of my own mind; Thus, in the fairy-land of thought, Whate'er I seek I find. Yet, O ye everlasting hills! Buildings of God, not made with hands, Nor in his works the Maker view, Then lose his works in Him? By me, when I behold Him not, Or love Him not when I behold, Be all I ever knew forgot; My pulse stand still, my heart grow cold; 1 5 Transform'd to ice, 'twixt earth and sky, On yonder cliff my form be seen, That all may ask, but none reply, QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. FLOWERS, wherefore do ye bloom? - We strew thy pathway to the tomb. Fair Moon, why dost thou wane ? - That I may wax again. O Sun, what makes thy beams so bright? - The Word that said, "Let there be light." Planets, what guides you in your course? Unseen, unfelt, unfailing force. Nature, whence sprang thy glorious frame? - My Maker call'd me, and I came. O Light, thy subtle essence who may know? Ask not; for all things but myself I show. What is yon arch which every where I see? -The sign of omnipresent Deity. Where rests the horizon's all-embracing zone? - Where earth, God's footstool, touches heaven, his throne. Ye clouds, what bring ye in your train? God's embassies,—storm, lightning, hail, or rain. Bow in the cloud, what token dost thou bear? -That Justice still cries "strike," and Mercy "spare." Dews of the morning, wherefore were ye given? To shine on earth, then rise to heaven. Rise, glitter, break; yet, Bubble, tell me why? - To show the course of all beneath the sky. Stay, Meteor, stay thy falling fire! No, thus shall all the host of heaven expire. Time past, time present, time to come, — to-day. Ye Dead, where can your dwelling be? The house for all the living; come and see. |