The Heaven

Call not the heaven Vacancy —
Whose colour, soft and deep,
Compels a tear to every eye
That; gazing long will keep;
Whose beauty rests so silently.
Like a maiden's in a sleep.

O Father great! this heaven high
Is of Thy love the token;
As sweet and deep as anciently,
Of stillness yet unbroken;
A love is imaged in the sky'.
Too great to be outspoken.

Our earth, the featured Definite,
Has meanings all Divine;
But oneness of the Infinite
Doth in the azure shine;
We seem to see Thee in the height.
Around we look on Thine.

By works for uses and delight
We learn Thee part by part;
Thy world reveals to gradual sight
How manifold Thou art;
But read at once in heaven bright
Is the fulness of Thy heart.

When gazing on the open blue,
Our heart and Thine seem near;
Thy love in ours is imaged true,
As skies in water clear;
Clouds come and pass, but still in view
The depths of heart appear.

We feel — and all our spirit through,
As through the air a bell,
Or odour of a blossom new
Through all a hidden dell.
Spreads joy as deep as heaven's hue,
Which utterance cannot tell.