Atonement | Christ | Christmas | Incarnation | Poetry

CHRIST IN THE UNIVERSE
With this ambiguous earth
His dealings have been told us.
These abide:
The signal to a maid, the human birth,
The lesson, and the young Man crucified.
But not a star of all
The innumerable hosts of stars has heard
How He administered this terrestrial ball./Our race have kept their Lord’s entrusted Word.
Of His earth- visiting feet
None knows the secret, cherished, perilous,
The terrible, shamefaced, frightened, whispered, sweet,
Heart- shattering secret of His way with us.
No planet knows of this.
Our wayside planet, carrying land and wave,
Love and life multiplied, and pain and bliss,
Bears, as chief treasure, one forsaken grave.
Nor, in our little day,
May His devices with the heavens be guessed;
His pilgrimage to thread the Milky Way,
Or His bestowals there, be manifest.
But, in the eternities,
Doubtless we shall compare…