IS IT TRUE?

Is it true, O Christ in Heaven,

That the highest suffer most?

That the strongest wander furthest,

And more helplessly are lost?

That the mark of rank in nature

Is capacity for pain?

And the anguish of the singer

Makes the sweetness of the strain?

Is it true, O Christ in Heaven,

That whichever way we go

Walls of darkness must surround us,

Thinks we would but cannot know?

That the infinite must bound us

Like a temple veil unrent,

Whilst the finite ever wearies,

So that one's therein content?

Is it true, O Christ in Heaven,

That the fullness yet to come

Is so glorious and so perfect

That to know would strike us dumb?

That if ever for a moment

We could pierce beyond the sky

With these poor dim eyes of mortals,

We should just see God and die?

Sarah Williams