If all were said and known of poetry,
We'd turn, for fadeless beauty, to the Psalms,
And find there, like "clear shining after rain,"
The vital light, which never fades with years.
No luxuries of that historic throne
Obscured the music which the shepherd lad
Brought with him from the fields which he had loved,
Where, starlit nights, he had communed with God.
True, in the shadow of the court, his songs
Grew sadder, sometimes; but he always learned,
And struck and delved to find reality;
And finding, he mined rare gems of thought
And gems of music. Must he not have known
God as the One and only? All his songs
Were in His praise. Such thoughts as these he found:
God's help is present; terrors flee away;
Since God prevails, no evil can abide;
His enemies all vanish from our sight;
His sheltering love protects, surrounds his sons;
His home our dwelling place in ages past,
Likewise our dwelling place forevermore;
The heavens and their hosts attest His power,
The very trees in forests clap their hands
And waves rejoice, because the one God reigns
Who satisfies the hearts which seek for Truth.
