Religion

The Incomprehensible

by Isaac Watts 1674–1748

From The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse, ed. D. H. S. Nicholson and A. H. E. Lee (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1917)

Religion

Far in the Heavens my God retires:
My God, the mark of my desires,
And hides his lovely face;
When he descends within my view,
He charms my reason to pursue,
But leaves it tir'd and fainting in th' unequal chase.
Or if I reach unusual height
Till near his presence brought,
There floods of glory check my flight,
Cramp the bold pinions of my wit,
And all untune my thought;
Plunged in a sea of light I roll,
Where wisdom, justice, mercy, shines;
Infinite rays in crossing lines
Beat thick confusion oil my sight, and overwhelm my
soul. . . .
Great God! behold my reason lies
Adoring: yet my love would rise
On pinions not her own:
Faith shall direct her humble flight,
Through all the trackless seas of light,
To Thee, th' Eternal Fair, the infinite Unknown.

MLA

Watts, Isaac. “The Incomprehensible.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/watts/771/.

Chicago

Watts, Isaac. “The Incomprehensible.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/watts/771/.

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