by way of silencing the agnostic's prating against God. Hear him:
"Flower in the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies—
Hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
Little flower,—but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is."
Here follow a few, among many, very many, delicious references to the out-of-door world we name nature, as explanatory of the indoor world we call soul:
"Who make it seem more sweet to be
The little life on bank and brier,
The bird that pipes his lone desire
And dies unheard within his tree."
"A thousand suns will stream on thee,
A thousand moons will quiver;
But not by thee my steps shall be,
Forever and forever."
"Storm'd in orbs of song, a growing gale."
"I saw that every morning, far withdrawn,
Beyond the darkness and the cataract,
God made himself an awful rose of dawn,
Unheeded."
"There let the wind sweep and the plover cry;
But thou go by."
"As through the land at eve we went,
And pluck'd the ripen'd ears,
We fell out, my wife and I,—
O we fell out, I know not why,
And kiss'd again with tears.
For when we came where lies the child
We lost in other years,
There above the little grave,—
O there above the little grave,
We kiss'd again with tears."