Any Saint

His shoulder did I hold

Too high that I, o'erbold

      Weak one,

  Should lean thereon.

But He a little hath

Declined His stately path

      And my

  Feet set more high;

That the slack arm may reach

His shoulder, and faint speech

      Stir

  His unwithering hair.

And bolder now and bolder

I lean upon that shoulder

      So dear

  He is and near:

And with His aureole

The tresses of my soul

      Are blent

  In wished content.

Yes, this too gentle Lover

Hath flattering words to move her

      To pride

  By His sweet side.

Ah, Love! somewhat let be!

Lest my humility

      Grow weak

  When thou dost speak!

Rebate thy tender suit,

Lest to herself impute

      Some worth

  Thy bride of earth!

A maid too easily

Conceits herself to be

      Those things

  Her lover sings;

And being straitly wooed,

Believes herself the Good

      And Fair

  He seeks in her.

Turn something of Thy look,

And fear me with rebuke,

      That I

  May timorously

Take tremors in Thy arms,

And with contriv-ed charms

      Allure

  A love unsure.

Not to me, not to me,

Builded so flawfully,

      O God,

  Thy humbling laud!

Not to this man, but Man,--

Universe in a span;

      Point

  Of the spheres conjoint;

In whom eternally

Thou, Light, dost focus Thee!--

      Didst pave

  The way o' the wave;

Rivet with stars the Heaven,

For causeways to Thy driven

      Car

  In its coming far

Unto him, only him;

In Thy deific whim

      Didst bound

  Thy works' great round

In this small ring of flesh;

The sky's gold-knotted mesh

      Thy wrist

  Did only twist

To take him in that net.--

Man! swinging-wicket set

      Between

  The Unseen and Seen;

Lo, God's two worlds immense,

Of spirit and of sense,

      Wed

  In this narrow bed;

Yea, and the midge's hymn

Answers the seraphim

      Athwart

  Thy body's court!

Great arm-fellow of God!

To the ancestral clod

      Kin,

  And to cherubin;

Bread predilectedly

O' the worm and Deity!

      Hark,

  O God's clay-sealed Ark,

To praise that fits thee, clear

To the ear within the ear,

      But dense

  To clay-sealed sense.

All the Omnific made

When in a word he said,

      (Mystery!)

  He uttered THEE;

Thee His great utterance bore,

O secret metaphor

      Of what

  Thou dream'st no jot!

Cosmic metonymy!

Weak world-unshuttering key!

      One

  Seal of Solomon!

Trope that itself not scans

Its huge significance,

      Which tries

  Cherubic eyes.

Primer where the angels all

God's grammar spell in small,

      Nor spell

  The highest too well.

Point for the great descants

Of starry disputants;

      Equation

  Of creation.

Thou meaning, couldst thou see,

Of all which dafteth thee;

      So plain,

  It mocks thy pain;

Stone of the Law indeed,

Thine own self couldst thou read;

      Thy bliss

  Within thee is.

Compost of Heaven and mire,

Slow foot and swift desire!

      Lo,

  To have Yes, choose No;

Gird, and thou shalt unbind;

Seek not, and thou shalt find;

      To eat,

  Deny thy meat;

And thou shalt be fulfilled

With all sweet things unwilled:

      So best

  God loves to jest

With children small--a freak

Of heavenly hide-and-seek

      Fit

  For thy wayward wit,

Who art thyself a thing

Of whim and wavering;

      Free

  When His wings pen thee;

Sole fully blest, to feel

God whistle thee at heel;

      Drunk up

  As a dew-drop,

When He bends down, sun-wise,

Intemperable eyes;

      Most proud,

  When utterly bowed.

To feel thyself and be

His dear nonentity--

      Caught

  Beyond human thought

In the thunder-spout of Him,

Until thy being dim,

      And be

  Dead deathlessly.

Stoop, stoop; for thou dost fear

The nettle's wrathful spear,

      So slight

  Art thou of might!

Rise; for Heaven hath no frown

When thou to thee pluck'st down,

      Strong clod!

  The neck of God.