O CHANTRY of the Cherubim, <br />Down-looking on the stream! <br />Beneath thy boughs the day grows dim; <br />Through windows comes the gleam; <br />A thousand raptures fill the air, <br />Beyond delight, beyond despair. <br /> <br />I will not name one flower that clings <br />In cluster at my feet! <br />I will not hail one bird that sings <br />Its anthem loud or sweet! <br />This is the floor of Heaven, and these <br />The angels that God’s ear do please. <br /> <br />I walk as one unclothed of flesh, <br />I wash my spirit clean; <br />I see old miracles afresh, <br />And wonders yet unseen. <br />I will not leave Thee till Thou give <br />Some word whereby my soul may live! <br /> <br />I listened—but no voice I heard; <br />I looked—no likeness saw; <br />Slowly the joy of flower and bird <br />Did like a tide withdraw; <br />And in the heaven a silent star <br />Smiled on me, infinitely far. <br /> <br />I buoyed me on the wings of dream, <br />Above the world of sense; <br />I set my thought to sound the scheme, <br />And fathom the Immense; <br />I tuned my spirit as a lute <br />To catch wind-music wandering mute. <br /> <br />Yet came there never voice nor sign; <br />But through my being stole <br />Sense of a Universe divine, <br />And knowledge of a soul <br />Perfected in the joy of things, <br />The star, the flower, the bird that sings. <br /> <br />Nor I am more, nor less, than these; <br />All are one brotherhood; <br />I and all creatures, plants, and trees, <br />The living limbs of God; <br />And in an hour, as this, divine, <br />I feel the vast pulse throb in mine.<br /><br />Francis William Bourdillon<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-chantry-of-the-cherubim/
