Father Benedict— And—?
Oswald—I have two golden letters to put on.
Father Benedict—God hath his eye upon our altar cross;
And on you, too, my brother.
Oswald— God has been
Good to me.
Father Benedict—The angels do His will.
Oswald—And even human hands—
(He looks down the street.)
Father Benedict— 'Twas marvelous.
As I came down I passed the jagged cliff
You tumbled over, and there a while I paused
Entranced, as it were, by unseen Presences.
(The boy, who climbed down from the tree upon the arrival of the Priest, leads the ass out, left.)
The mountains wore a new and hallowed look
In the morning light. I would give half my life
To have stood upon the peaks that night and seen
God's ministers drop shining down the sky
And blaze the gorge. But God works in the dark.
At night His golden ladders are let down
And deeds are done and no man knoweth how.
At dawn we see the severed hills, the seas
Huddled aghast at some vast mountain head
That yesterday lay fathoms in the deep.
So quietly He worketh in the night
That mountain ranges rise and no babe wakes.
Who can say: "Yonder God is"?