To My Father: II

All childhood, reverence clothed thee, undefined,
As for some being of another race;
Ah, not with it, departing--growing apace
As years did bring me manhood's loftier mind,
Able to see thy human life behind--
The same hid heart, the same revealing face--
My own dim contest settling into grace,
Of sorrow, strife, and victory combined!
So I beheld my God, in childhood's morn,
A mist, a darkness, great, and far apart,
Moveless and dim--I scarce could say Thou art:
My manhood came, of joy and sadness born;--
Full soon the misty dark, asunder torn,
Revealed man's glory, God's great human heart.

G.M.D. jr.

ALGIERS, April, 1857.