Classic Poem

I Wonderful are thy works, as my soul overwhelmingly knoweth.

Thine, O Lord, are the greatness and the might, the beauty and the triumph and the splendor.
Thine, O Lord, is the Kingdom, and Thou art exalted as head over all.
Thine are the riches and honor. Thine the creatures of the heights and depths.
They bear witness that they perish, while Thou endurest.
Thine is the might in whose mystery our thoughts can find no stay, so far art Thou beyond us. . . .
Thine is the loving-kindness that ruleth over all Thy creatures, and the good treasured up for those who fear Thee.
Thine are the mysteries that transcend understanding and thought. . . .
Thine is the existence from the shadow of whose light every being was created,
Of which we say, in His shadow we live.
Thine are the two worlds between which Thou hast set a boundary,
The first for deeds and the second for reward. . . .

II Thou art One, the first of every number, and the foundation of every structure.

Thou art One, and at the mystery of Thy Oneness the wise of heart are struck dumb,
For they know not what it is.
Thou art One, and Thy Oneness can neither be increased nor lessened,
It lacketh naught, nor doth aught remain over.
Thou art One, but not like a unit to be grasped or counted,
For number and change cannot reach Thee.
Thou art not to be envisaged, nor to be figured thus and thus. . . .

III Thou existest, but hearing of ear cannot reach Thee, nor vision of eye,

Nor shall the How have sway over Thee, nor the Wherefore and Whence.
Thou existest, but for Thyself and for none other with Thee.
Thou existest, and before Time began Thou wast,
And without place Thou didst abide.
Thou existest, and Thy secret is hidden and who shall attain to it?
" So deep, so deep, who can discover it? "

IV Thou livest, but not from any restricted season nor from any known period.

Thou livest, but not through breath and soul, for Thou art soul of the soul.
Thou livest, but not with the life of man, which is like unto vanity and its end the moth and the worm.
Thou livest, and he who layeth hold of Thy secret shall find eternal delight:
" He shall eat and live for ever. "

V Thou are great, and compared with Thy greatness all greatness is humbled and all excess diminished.

Incalculably great is Thy being,
Superber than the starry heaven,
Beyond and above all grandeur,
" And exalted beyond all blessing and praise. " ...

VII Thou are Light celestial, and the eyes of the pure shall behold Thee,

But the clouds of sin shall veil Thee from the eyes of the sinners.
Thou art Light, hidden in this world but to be revealed in the visible world on high. . . .

VIII Thou art God, and all things formed are Thy servants and worshipers.

Yet is not Thy glory diminished by reason of those that worship aught beside Thee,
For the yearning of them all is to draw nigh Thee,
But they are like the blind,
Setting their faces forward on the King's highway,
Yet still wandering from the path.
One sinketh into the well of a pit,
And another falleth into a snare,
But all imagine they have reached their desire,
Albeit they have suffered in vain.
But Thy servants are those walking clear-eyed in the straight path,
Turning neither to the right nor the left,
Till they come to the court of the King's palace.
Thou art God, by Thy Godhead sustaining all that hath been formed,
And upholding in Thy Unity all creatures.
Thou art God and there is no distinction betwixt Thy Godhead and Thy Unity, Thy pre-existence and Thy existence,
For 'tis all one mystery,
And although the name of each be different,
" Yet they are all proceeding to one place. "

IX Thou art wise. And wisdom is the fount of life and from Thee it welleth,

And by the side of Thy wisdom all human knowledge turneth to folly.
Thou art wise, more ancient than all primal things,
And wisdom was the nursling at Thy side.
Thou art wise, and Thou hast not learnt from any beside Thee,
Nor acquired wisdom from any save Thyself.
Thou art wise, and from Thy wisdom Thou hast set apart Thy appointed purpose,
Like a craftsman and an artist,
To draw up the films of being from Nothingness
As light is drawn that darteth from the eye:
Without bucket from the fountain of light hath Thy workmen drawn it up,
And without tool hath he wrought. . . .

XXIV

Who shall understand the mysteries of Thy creations? For Thou hast exalted above the ninth sphere the sphere of intelligence.

It is the Temple confronting us
" The tenth that shall be sacred to the Lord. "
It is the Sphere transcending height,
To which conception cannot reach,
And there stands the veiled palanquin of Thy glory.
From the silver of Truth hast Thou cast it,
And of the gold of Reason hast Thou wrought its arms,
And on a pillar of Righteousness set its cushions,
And from Thy power is its existence,
And from and toward Thee its yearning,
" And unto Thee shall be its desire. "