SUNLIGHT

Sunlight is full of age.

Ah, so old!

Older than any sage

Has ever told!

The draught our Lord quaffed up

To the bloody lees;

The aching hemlock cup

Of Socrates.

It is a golden sword;

The veil of the Grail;

The unfathomable Word

That will not fail.

Along a summer street

It often lies

Shimmering to repeat

Immortal paradise.

As a mountain lake can mirror

The exalted with the near,

Heaven's wonder and terror —

Both shine here.

It says all things in nought;

And, saying them, passes

To gild like gentle thought

Trees and grasses.

It sways upon the ocean

Like a god asleep

Where the waves’ wandering motion

Hides the deep.

It shafts through forest aisles

Like miracle;

It trembles and smiles

On the lip of Hell.

It has touched Greece and Rome

And Persia's might —

And stirs the vines of home

With flickering light.

It lay on Cain's hot neck

As he stooped to slay.

David's stone from the beck

Glittered its day.

Cleopatra gazed upon it

Through shadowed lids.

High halls they built to shun it

In the Pyramids.

It opens babies’ hands

That crawl to snatch its beams.

Through hovels in ancient lands

Its splendor streams.

Eternal wells of light

Its largeness shows.

There shall be no more night

Its conscience knows.

It is a smiling stranger,

A fainting hour,

Love and peace and danger

And the mock of power.

Yet have I said no word

Of what it is.

Only — my heart is stirred

By its mysteries!