So I Dream

Nay, I know not what I dream of,

Yet I dream.

Though my brow be ever wet

With the anguish and the sweat,

There is glory coming yet,

Where the gleam

Leads me through the blinding mist,

By the way my Saviour wist,

To the shores that God has kissed, --

So I dream.

There is more behind the sunshine

Than the sun,

Fiercely flaming in the sky,

As the ages dawn and die,

Like a sneering sightless eye,

Seeing none.

There's a voice my spirit knows,

In the sunset's gold and rose,

And the purple afterglows,

When it's done.

There is speech behind the silence

Of the night,

When the myriad array,

Sweeping down the Milky Way,

Marches on to dawning-day

Silver white;

When the velvet of the air,

Like some lovely woman's hair,

Drives the heavy eyes of care

Out of sight.

There's a message in the music

Of the deep,

When great Ocean's heaving swells,

Like God's big cathedral bells,

Boom their solemn-sounding knells,

As they sweep,

In an ecstasy of pride,

At the flowing of the tide,

Over those who fought and died,

Fast asleep.

There is love behind the splendour

Of the spring,

When the weary winter dies

And the Lord with laughing eyes

Bids the trembling world arise,

Whispering,

"Did ye think that God was dead?

Nay, my blood is warm and red,

And there is no death to dread --

Come and sing."

Lord, I pray Thee give my spirit

Eyes to see,

Through the things of time and space,

All the glories of Thy grace,

The commandment of Thy face,

Bidding me

Follow on where Thou hast trod ;

Though I share the grief of God,

Give me strength to sweat my blood,

Lord, for Thee.

by G.A. Studdert Kennedy

The Unutterable Beauty, Mowbray London & Oxford.

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