Invocation

Invocation

I

Thee most we honour, thee,

Great Science. Hold thy way.

The end thou canst not see,

But in the end the day.

Seek without seeking ends,

And shatter without ruth;

On thee our fate depends;

Be faithful, keep the truth.

We think it false to dream

Beyond the likely fact;

We grant thee, Truth, supreme,

Whatever thou exact.

I pray thee, Truth, control

My destiny distraught,

And move my sightless soul

In thy high ways of thought.

Hold thou my hand. I go

Wherever thou wilt guide,

Tho’ bleak the bitter snow

And black the mountain side.

Or if thou bid’st descend,

I fear not for myself,

Tho’ raging thunders rend

And lightnings lash, the gulf.

My deeds I will endow,

My spirit render clean,

O Truth, with thee; and thou

Wilt make the desert green;

And haply show withal

The wells that will not sink,

Sweet pastures for the soul,

And in the desert drink.

Confounded by these briars,

Thy stars will compass me

And be the beacon fires

To light mine eyes to thee.

II

But in my state infirm

That Spirit comes and cries

To me in wrath, ‘O worm,

They see not who have eyes,

How thou that hast not? Know,

My children drink the sun,

Taking them wings to go

Where others walk or run:

Yet scarcely one life-taught

Can ever rightly heed

The issue of a thought

Or do a fruitful deed.’