LIGHT AND TRUTH

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THE light is ever silent;

 It sparkles on morn’s million gems dew,

It flings itself into the shower of noon,

It weaves its gold into the cloud of sunset,

Yet not a sound is heard; it dashes full

On yon broad rock, yet not an echo answers;

 It lights in myriad drops upon the flower,

Yet not a blossom stirs; it doth not move

The slightest film of floating gossamer,

Which the faint touch of insect’s wing would shiver.

The light is ever pure,

No art of man can ever rob it of its beauty,

Nor stain its unpolluted heaven lines.

It is the fairest, purest thing in nature;

Fit type of heavenly truth, which is all pure.

Truth, too, with noiseless grandeur

Upon its heavenly mission goeth forth.

It shines upon a sin-polluted earth

Until its vileness doth so vile appear,

That men despise, then banish it from sight.

It shineth on, till ‘neath its rays benign

The buds of heav’nly virtue do appear,

And earth gives promise of a summer time.

And so ‘twill ever shine, till fruit and flower

Of virtue, peace and praise bedeck the earth.

Truth, like the light, is pure;

And no device to rob it of its glory,

Or drag it down base purposes to serve,

Can e’er succeed. Ah, no! its heav’nly glory

Shall in due time the universe pervade.

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