WHEN ALONE I ABIDE

In this dreary desert of cosmic dreams,

Lord, be Thou my only love.

Who to trust, who else to love

When Thou art all in subliminal streams?

My life I hold a gift from Thee,

Thyself, clothed in earthly form,

From end to end Thou fill me up,

Where am I? I wonder be.

A speck of dust liveth not

Till Thou fill, fulfil it so,

A dot on earth, a micro-will,

Moves in Thee, in Thy thought.

Life is long and hard and rough,

But they alone, who trust in Thee,

Live it smooth with silken glow

And sift the Real from all the bluff.

Thou art the ocean of love supreme,

All beings move in to Thee,

Thou art the source, course, final end,

Now here, so close, though far Thou seem.

When earthly love dries up so

And life itself a desert seems,

Thou, the source of all sunbeams,

Give Thyself us all the more.

The upward surge, the deepening flow,

The inward pull, the dive unseen,

The flight to freedom, bliss serene,

Surpassing joy sets life aglow.

And, thus, the saga goes on and on,

Crest and trough and golden mean,

Rise to fall and fall to rise,

Till wave-free stands the sea at dawn. 

Life is done and so is death,

Pleasure, pain and all the dross,

Nature nurses back the soul,

And the Self reveals beyond the breath.