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Title: Love
Author: James Avis Bartley [
More Titles by Bartley]
Of woman was I born, and man I am.
I come to teach the greatest, yet the most meek
Of all true lessons which man e'er can learn--
God's man was made to love, and nought to hate,
Except the Ill which God and angels hate.
Oh! this grand lore hath fallen on my heart
Like smiling sunlight on a gloomy ocean.
Oft have I heard and felt great throbs of love
Vibrating through the universe of worlds,
Through every grain of matter, through the hearts
That live and swarm beneath the eye of God.
Oft standing mid the holy calm of night,
The surf of love came rolling on my soul
From off the farthest verge of God's great realms,
As rolls the surf of ocean on a beach,
For ever and for ever, and for ever.
Love was the Cause of all things, and the End;
For God is Love and ever will be Love:
And those who feel most love are most like God--
As seraphs, cherubs, saints and righteous men;
And those who feel least love, are least like God,
As Satan, Moloch, Belial, and bad men.
Once man, and all that live and move on earth,
In sea, and sky, were bound by links of love
To God and angels, in one perfect chain--
And God and angels came and talked with man
Full often, in the shade of Eden's trees,
While lions and all lambs lay down together,
All in the happy shade of Eden's trees.
Oft have I watched the myriad lovely flowers,
In spring and summer, in the woods and meads,
And thought they clasped their tiny hands in love,
Then all bowed low their painted heads in love,
To the great lord of light who smiled on them.
Oft have I watched the myriad forest leaves,
Trembling as if with some sweet thought of love,
Till love's sweet incense went up from all these,
To the bright orb who smiled bright love on them:
And then a thousand birds began to sing
One song of love to that bright God above.
Oft I have heard that larks, in England's realm,
Fly from the earth, at morning's golden blush,
And fill the whole bright arch with golden songs?
And I have reasoned they sung only love,
Which teaches them that strangest melody,
Which they soar nearest heaven to warble out.
Oft have I seen the beams that leave the sun,
Embrace within the clouds, with shining arms--
And form a splendid arch in earth and heaven,
Which shines eternal covenant of Love--
Toward which our hearts forever mount and sing,
As skylarks mount and sing to morning's flash.
Oft have I seen the sparkling water-drops,
Cohere in love, and make a crystal lake--
A gulf--a sea--an ocean's mighty mirror.
Oft have I thought that all the system worlds,
A few of which we watch, at holy night,
Far up amid those deep, blue fields of night--
Are hung by Love, and wheel forever round
The Central Point, in circles swift but true;
And in their orbits flying thus for ever,
Sing forth a choral song of burning love,
To that Creator who loves them again.
Oft have I thought, the law which Newton named
The Law of Gravitation, is the Law
Of Love, which God had called the Law of Love.
And if a world could ever hate the rest,
'Twould rush forever to the abysm of gloom,
And dreariest part of chaos. I infer
God's man was made to love and nought to hate
Only the Ill which God and Angels hate.
Ah! happy spirits were they all in heaven,
And all loved God, and one another loved--
And all moved round the Triune God enthroned--
In blissful circles--nearing him for aye,
Yet not approaching ever--till that Foul
And Hateful One fell off from love and then
Fell down into his dark, eternal den,
Where love's sweet beam can never, never reach.
[The end]
James Avis Bartley's poem: Love
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