And let me know the living Father cares
For me, even me; for this one of his children.--
Hast thou no word for me? I am thy thought.
God, let thy mighty heart beat into mine,
And let mine answer as a pulse to thine.
See, I am low; yea, very low; but thou
Art high, and thou canst lift me up to thee.
I am a child, a fool before thee, God;
But thou hast made my weakness as my strength.
I am an emptiness for thee to fill;
My soul, a cavern for thy sea. I lie
Diffused, abandoning myself to thee....
--I will look up, if life should fail in looking.
Ah me! A stream cut from my parent-spring!
Ah me! A life lost from its father-life!




SCENE II.--_The refectory. The monks at table. A buzz of conversation_.
ROBERT _enters, wiping his forehead, as if he had just come in_.

_Stephen_
(_speaking across the table_).
You see, my friend, it will not stand to logic;
Or, if you like it better, stand to reason;
For in this doctrine is involved a _cause_
Which for its very being doth depend
Upon its own _effect_. For, don't you see,
He tells me to have faith and I shall live!