CERTITUDE

There was a time when I was confident

That God's stupendous mystery of birth

Was mine to know. The wonder of it lent

New ecstasy and glory to the earth.

I heard no voice that uttered it aloud,

Nor was it written for me on a scroll;

Yet, if alone or in the common crowd,

I felt myself a consecrated soul.

My child leaped in its dark and silent room

And cried,‘ I am,’ though all unheard by men.

So leaps my spirit in the body's gloom

And cries,‘ I live! I shall be born again.’

Elate with certitude towards death I go,

Nor doubt, nor argue, since I know, I know!