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The mighty ones of earth do call
To Him, who hath created all:
Blessed art Thou, O Lord!
Blessed art Thou!

They who in radiance shine, proclaim
Of Him who wrought them out of flame:
Holy art Thou, O Lord!
Holy art Thou!

Those doubly tried by blood and fire

United chant in frequent choir:

Blessed art Thou, O Lord!
Holy and blest!

Pure spheres celestial echoing round,
With voice of sweetest song resound:
Holy art Thou, O Lord!
Holy art Thou!

All those redeemèd not by gold,
Repeat in faith and joy untold:
Blessed art Thou, O Lord!
Blessed art Thou!

They who pass swiftly to and fro
Make answer, as they come and go:
Holy art Thou, O Lord!
Holy art Thou!

Who seek His law, and testify

That there is none beside Him, cry:

Blessed art Thou, O Lord!

Holy and blest!

SANCTIFICATION

The hosts of radiant seraphs call
To Him, most glorious of them all:
Holy art Thou, O Lord!
Holy art Thou!

The sons of mighty men declare
His majesty beyond compare:
Blessed art Thou, O Lord!
Blessed art Thou!

All they who glorify His name,
With every morn anew proclaim:
Holy art Thou, O Lord!
Holy art Thou!

Israel, His people, ceaselessly
Cry as they bend and bow the knee:
Blessed art Thou, O Lord!
Holy and blest!

Those shining as a crystal spring

Chant in the presence of their King:
Holy art Thou, O Lord!
Holy art Thou!

The stranger's children evermore
The mighty Lord of lords adore.

Blessed art Thou, O Lord!

Blessed art Thou!

277

JOSEPH IBN ABITUR

Translation from the Hebrew by Mrs. Henry Lucas

126

WHERE IS GOD?

Where is He? Ask His emblem,

The glorious, glorious sun,

Who glads the round earth with his beams
Ere his day's course is run.

Where is He? Ask the stars that keep
Their nightly watch on high.
Where is He? Ask the pearly dew,
The tear-drops of the sky.

Where is He? Ask the secret founts
That feed the boundless deep;
The dire simoon, or soft night-breeze
That lulls the world to sleep.

Where is He? Ask the storm of fire

That bursts from Etna's womb,

And ask the glowing lava-flood

That makes the land a tomb.

Where is He? Ask the maelstrom's whirl,

Shivering tall pines like glass;
Ask the great oak, the graceful flower,
Or simplest blade of grass.

Where is He? Ask the behemoth,

Who drinketh rivers dry; The ocean-king leviathan,

Or scarce-seen atom fly.

GOD, WHOM SHALL I COMPARE TO THEE? 279

Where is He? Ask the awful calm
On mountain tops that rests;
And bounding, thundering avalanche
Rent from their rugged crests.

Ask the wide-wasting hurricane,
Careening in its might;

The thunder crash, the lightning blaze,
Earth all convulsed with fright.

Where is He? Ask the crystal isles
On Arctic sea that sail;

Or ask from lands of balm and spice,
The perfume-breathing gale.

Where on the universe is found
That Presence-favored spot ?—
All, all proclaim His dwelling-place!
But say, where is He not?

ANONYMOUS

127

GOD, WHOM SHALL I COMPARE TO THEE?

God! whom shall I compare to Thee,
When Thou to none canst likened be?
Under what image shall I dare

To picture Thee, when everywhere
All Nature's forms Thy impress bear?

Greater, O Lord, Thy glories are

Than all the heavenly chariot far.

Whose mind can grasp Thy world's design? Whose word can fitly Thee define?

Whose tongue set forth Thy powers divine?

Can heart approach, can eye behold
Thee in Thy righteousness untold?
Whom didst Thou to Thy counsel call,
When there was none to speak withal,
Since Thou wast first and Lord of all?

Thy world eternal witness bears
That none its Maker's glory shares.
Thy wisdom is made manifest
In all things formed by Thy behest,
All with Thy seal's clear mark imprest.

Before the pillars of the sky

Were raised, before the mountains high

Were wrought, ere hills and dales were known,

Thou in Thy majesty alone

Didst sit, O Lord, upon Thy throne!

Hearts, seeking Thee, from search refrain,

And weary tongues their praise restrain.
Thyself unbound by time and place,
Thou dost pervade, support, embrace,
The world and all created space.

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