There was once a foaming sea
Facing near eternity.
On it, a woman and child
With hair blowing in the wild,
Stood on waves that heaved to sigh,
Smiled upon the flaming sky.
Their eyes burned with sunlit joy,
Fiery gold without alloy.
Something in their upward stare
Arose to sail on the air;
Their souls united as one
Upon the waves of the sun.
Over hill and over dell
They shone, and on the bluebell
Smiling happy beams appeared,
Wherein passers-by were cheered;
Swaying in sunny flowers,
Singing sweetly in bowers.
Merry birds entered the throng
With distended throats in song;
Little children laughed with glee
Gazing at the far off sea.
And, in it the azure blue
Sung of things they never knew.
The glints and gleams ever tossed
Till over the sea they crossed.
With eyes of sapphire they danced
On glittering waves that pranced;
Longing for another land,
Delighting the Father grand.
One of them, a little boy,
Spoke from an abundant joy.
Inspired by a hidden tune,
He spoke like the mirrored moon
That sits on a crystal lake,
That from stillness did awake,
Reflecting another light, –
The boy, a fair shadow bright.
“Follow the woman and child
Up into the undefiled;
Follow to the Father’s face;
See yourself in his embrace, –
A noble child of the king;
His beloved, and his longing.
Look into his endless eyes;
See where your true image lies.
For there, in tears deep water,
You are his son and daughter.
He honours you with his look;
His love flowing like a brook.
Your cheeks, like river banks fed,
Fall on his, and make their bed,
Sinking into tender streams,
Aloft upon happy beams.”
For even as the child spoke,
His words to them did evoke
The reality of this,
A sense of the Father’s kiss;
Every emotion and thought,
Tender, and beautifully wrought.
One of them, the eldest there,
Even aged with snowy hair,
Spied his flesh in waters clear,
Till his wrinkles did appear.
Then he ceased to dance about,
In suspense, and held in doubt;
But straightway the Father spoke;
Death annulled, his spirit woke,
And in stillness of the air
Words without wind echoed there,
Held aloft by waves of joy,
Falling on a little boy.
“Though your flesh ‘old man’ declares,
Gaze till your sweet spirit stares,
And in innocence you are
The bright shining of a star.”
For even as he listened,
His face in waters glistened;
Sweetly there, the Father dear
In his own face did appear.
His flesh with wrinkles seemed sure,
But now young again and pure.
For indeed, his flesh was young;
In his eyes the Father sung.
He sung of a country far;
He sung like the morning star.
He spoke like the distant shore
That tells of things evermore,
On the horizon peeping,
Imploring long and weeping.
The children shout together;
Make calm the stormy weather.
Their minds become a blue sky
Where no cloud ever goes by.
The Father’s love and longing
Makes them midst waves belonging
To the country of pure gold.
In clear sea their steps unfold
Glimpses of heavenly things,
Sweet visions of he that sings
And smiles in soft waves breaking.
So they find themselves waking,
Ever coming more alive,
As if they did there arrive;
So that while on their journey,
They are there just as surely
In the heavenly country,
Dreaming of a distant sea.
The sparkles of a sweet dream
Seem inside each wave's soft gleam,
And in the realm of their heart,
With paradise never part.
The starry host numberless
Twinkling in their eyes caress
The same sweetness with their bright,
Adding drops of dewy light.
Oh bliss, they left it behind
So long ago, and still find
Joy, joy, joy, ever growing,
From infinity flowing.