"Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped." -- Is. xxxv.5.

C. P. C.

tr., Emma Frances Bevan, 1899

Thou glorious Lord! mine eyes at last unsealed

Behold Thee now --

In sudden radiance to my soul revealed,

Light, sight, art Thou.

One moment -- and the night has passed away,

Unbarred the prison;

And I pass forth to God's eternal day,

The dead arisen.

One moment -- and I see Thy glorious Face

Look down on me,

Unutterable love that fills all space,

Where'er I be.

Here, nearer than myself, and far away

And everywhere,

Thou shinest, Light of that celestial day,

"The Lord is there."

Thou showest me the land of living springs,

The land that lies

Beneath the shadow of Thy mighty wings,

The glory of Thine eyes.

And all is lit with love that hath no end,

Illimitable love --

Wherein for ever wheresoe'er I wend

I live and move.

Such, O my God, that moment of delight --

The sudden light that shone

Upon the fields of Bethlehem at night --

Thou givest me Thy Son.

* * * * *

And now the silence of the dead is past;

My ears have heard

The voice of Him who is the First and Last,

The living Word.

But not in one short moment hath He told

His heart to me,

The everlasting love that was of old,

That evermore shall be.

My ears have heard the first entrancing chord

Of that unending song,

The joyful psalm, the music of the Lord, [1]

So sweet, so long.

The song that through the everlasting days

The Lord's belovèd hears;

His Light has filled illimitable space,

His Voice, eternal years.

O glorious moment of the opened eyes,

Himself revealed!

O endless years of songs of Paradise

For ears unsealed!

---

Footnotes:

[1] 2 Chronicles 7:6.