New Zealand Verse/The Deepest Yearning
CXLIX.
The Deepest Yearning.
Our life is more than meat. Deep in the Soul
Springs Godlike, God ward yearning; ay, and we,
Though earth-drawn, ever would rise, unstained and free,
Above the clouds of sense that hide our goal.
This wondrous frame of things is as a scroll
Of mystic import, teaching us to see,
Though vaguely, and through shrouds of mystery,
The working of that power which moves the Whole.
Not Science fair, though sought with purpose true,
Nor Art, that all her wealth upon us spends,
Can fill the soul. She can her strength renew
Only with bread that from on high descends.
She yearns for That to which all things are due—
The Centre deep to which all Being tends.
Springs Godlike, God ward yearning; ay, and we,
Though earth-drawn, ever would rise, unstained and free,
Above the clouds of sense that hide our goal.
This wondrous frame of things is as a scroll
Of mystic import, teaching us to see,
Though vaguely, and through shrouds of mystery,
The working of that power which moves the Whole.
Not Science fair, though sought with purpose true,
Nor Art, that all her wealth upon us spends,
Can fill the soul. She can her strength renew
Only with bread that from on high descends.
She yearns for That to which all things are due—
The Centre deep to which all Being tends.