"Ye shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free."


Look! we shall know the truth--it is thy word;
The truth, O Lord--shining, invincible,
Unawed. And shall we love it, Lord, like this,
This half-dark flushing with the wondrous hope?
How can we love it more?

Sweet is the hush
Brimming the dim void world, soothing the beat
Of the great-hearted lake that lies unlit
Beyond that silver portal. Peace is here
In moony palaces that rose for her
Pale, lustrous--it is well with her to dwell.
The truth--will not these phantom fabrics fail
Under the fierce white fire--yes, float away
Like mists that wanly rise and choke the wind?

So merciless is truth--how shall we live
And bear the glare? Now rosily smiles the earth,
And bold young couriers climb the slope of heaven,
With gaudy flags aflare. The towered clouds,
Lofty, impregnable, are captured now--
Their turrets flame with banners. Who abides
Under the smooth wide rim of the worn world
That the high heavens should hail him like a king--