THE HEPATICA
HAIL, first of the spring,
Pearly sky-tinted thing
Touched with pencil of Him
Who rollest the year!
Lo, thy aureole rim
No painter may limn—
Vision thou hast, and no fear!
Fair child of the light,
What fixes thy sight?
Wide-open thy roll
From the seal of the clod,
And thy heaven-writ scroll
Glows, beautiful soul,
With the shining of God!
Thou look'st into heaven
As surely as Stephen,
So steadfast thy will is!
And from earth's inglenook
Seest Christ of the lilies
And daffadowndillies,
And catchest His look.
And a portion is mine,
Rapt gazer divine,
From thy countenance given—
Angel bliss in thy face!
I've looked into heaven
As surely as Stephen,
From out of my place!
"I AM"
I AM, and therefore these,
Existence is by me,—
Flux of pendulous seas,
The stable, free.
I am in blush of the rose,
The shimmer of dawn;
Am girdle Orion knows,
The fount undrawn.
I am earth's potency,
The chemic ray's, the rain's,
The reciprocity
That loads the wains.
I am, or the heavens fall!
I dwell in my woven tent,
Am immanent in all,—
Suprámanent!
I am the Life in life,
Impact and verve of thought,
The reason's lens and knife,
The ethic "ought."
I am of being the stress,
I am the brooding Dove,
I am the blessing in "bless,"
The Love in love.
I am the living thrill
And fire of poet and seer,
The breath of man's goodwill,
The Father near;
Am end of the way men grope,
Core of the ceaseless strife,
I am man's bread of hope,
Water of life.
I am the root of faith,
Substance of vision, too,
The spirit shadowed in wraith,
Urim in dew.
I am the soul's white Sun,
Love's slain, enthronëd Lamb,
I am the Holy One,
I am I AM.