The Explorers

Lyrics

O vast Rondure, swimming in space Cover'd all over with visible power and beauty Alternate light and day and the teeming spiritual darkness Unspeakable high processions of sun and moon and countless stars above Below, the manifold grass and waters, animals, mountains, trees With inscrutable purpose, some hidden prophetic intention Now first it seems my thought begins to span thee Down from the gardens of Asia descending ..., Adam and Eve appear, then their myriad progeny after them Wandering, yearning, ..., with restless explorations With questionings, baffled, formless, feverish, with never-happy hearts With that sad incessant refrain, Wherefore unsatisfied soul? ... Whither O mocking life? Ah who shall soothe these feverish children? Who Justify these restless explorations? Who speak the secret of impassive earth? ... Yet soul be sure the first intent remains, and shall be carried out Perhaps even now the time has arrived After the seas are all crossed After the great captains and engineers have accomplished their work After the noble inventors, ... Finally shall come the poet worthy that name The true son of God shall come singing his songs O we can wait no longer We too take ship O soul Joyous we too launch out on trackless seas Fearless for unknown shores on waves of ecstasy to sail Amid the wafting winds, (thou pressing me to thee, I thee to me, O soul,) Caroling free, singing our song of God Chanting our chant of pleasant exploration O soul thou pleasest me, I thee Sailing these seas or on the hills, or waking in the night Thoughts, silent thoughts, of Time and Space and Death, like waters flowing Bear me indeed as through the regions infinite Whose air I breathe, whose ripples hear, lave me all over Bathe me O God in thee, mounting to thee I and my soul to range in range of thee O Thou transcendent Nameless, the fibre and the breath Light of the light, shedding forth universes, thou centre of them, ... Swiftly I shrivel at the thought of God At Nature and its wonders, Time and Space and Death But that I, turning, call to thee O soul, thou actual Me And lo, thou gently masterest the orbs Thou matest Time, smilest content at Death And fillest, swellest full the vastnesses of Space Greater than stars or suns Bounding O soul thou journeyest forth; ... Away O soul! hoist instantly the anchor! Cut the hawsers—haul out—shake out every sail! ... Sail forth—steer for the deep waters only Reckless O soul, exploring, I with thee, and thou with me For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go, ... O my brave soul! O farther farther sail! O daring joy, but safe! are they not all the seas of God? O farther, farther, farther sail!