Whither Goest Thou?
Dim Child of Earth !1
With eye uprais’d to Heaven,2
No record of thy birth3
To thee is given :4
The rockings of thy cradle are but known5
To One alone.6
Thou seek’st to fathom far that hidden past ;7
To reach the shore thine infant being bounding
:8
In vain thy plummet toward the abyss is cast ;9
The line’s too short for such a Deep-Sea sounding.10
But the Eternal Future lies before thee :11
Whence thou dost come ’tis plain we cannot know
;12
But thro’ the cloud that spreads its shadows o’er thee,13
Say,—whither dost thou go ?14
What realm unknown, thro’ all the bright creation,15
Shall be thy dwelling-place ?16
Where, rapt in joy and holy aspiration,17
Thou shalt behold His face.18
We point our telescope to search the Ages :19
We find no star
!20
Thou ponderest over Revelation’s pages21
What read’st thou there ?22
Upon that page one written line I see ;23
The hand I know :—24
“ Where I am, there my servant, too, shall be.”25
To Him
I go.26