All human love is a faint type of God's;
An echoing note from a harmonious whole;
A feeble spark from an undying flame;
A single drop from an unfathomed sea:
But God's is infinite; it fills the earth
And heaven, and the broad, trackless realms of space.
Earth's myriad voices hymn it ceaselessly;
The mountains tell it to the peaceful vales
In tuneful streams and voiceful waterfalls,
That bear it on and sing it to the sea,
Until its great heart swells--that restless heart
Beating forever on the answering shore!
'Tis smiling in the golden light of day,
And beaming gently from the starry eyes
That watch at night, a sinful, shrouded world;
It speaks to us through odorous lips of flowers,
And warbles from the singing hearts of birds. O that all human hearts might join the strain;
Then Hate, and Bigotry, and Sin would die;
Then Peace would reign and wear its olive crown,
And War with blood-stained feet no longer track
Earth's fair domain, or wave its crimson flag.
Then Pride would lay its flaunting mantle by;
The cry of Hunger cease--the oppressor's rod
Would scourge no more, but man be linked to man
In one unbroken chain of brotherhood. O ye whose bleeding feet have weary grown
In these rough ways of ours--whose brows are pierced
By the sharp griefs of life--whose lone hearts yearn
For human love, and yearn, alas! In vain, --
Though time and death have broken one by one
The few, frail reeds on which ye leaned so long
And trustingly, and left no earthly stay,
Good cheer! There comes at last untroubled rest;
The crowns are thornless that the angels weave,
And God's love is eternal.