AS at the coming of the spring-tide rains

Rivers of sap through growing trees upstart,

So runs Thy love throughout my very veins,

Yea, to the tender tendrils of my heart.

I beat my flinty heart till from it flies

The spark divine of the eternal fire,

And from the flashing gleams I see arise

The lightning of Thy love—my heart’s desire.

Come, O ye weak in faith, for help is here,

Behold these flashes from our hearts that fly,

Had ye the eye of faith they would appear

Like the white light that gleamed on Sinai.

Come to the feast of love, for it is spread;

Share ye the wine-cup where we drink so deep;

Behold the wine—the tears that we have shed,

The wine-cups are our eyes that ever weep.

But, as we drink, upon us falls the spell,

The dream, the vision, and the ecstasy;

The wine of pain turns blood, nor can we tell

If we exist, or if we cease to be.

Within the jungle of this world of woe

The lion of desire stalks ravenous.

Girded with faith let us as hunters go:

If we resist him he will flee from us.

Ofttimes my heart can sing and can rejoice,

Pouring forth hymns throughout my rapturous days;

Alas, that powers of evil choke my voice,

And blast my thoughts, and burn my psalms of praise!