Sonnet
God is and is seen wherever we look,
From the roaring sea to the noiseless brook;
From the everlasting snow-clad hill,
To the smallest sand beneath the rill.
The granite rock and the liquid flood,
Each portray the living hand of God!
From the blazing sun that rules the day,
To the faint light of the glow worm’s ray;
From the blue vaults of the azure sky,
From all the nocturnal worlds on high;
To the smallest insects on the ground,
Wherever that insect may be found,
The daguerreotype of God is there,
Insects, stars and sky and sun declare.
The Poetical Works of James Madison Bell (Press of Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Co., 1901) by James Madison Bell. Copyright © 1901 by James Madison Bell. This poem is in the public domain.
James Madison Bell
Poet and political activist James Madison Bell was born on April 3, 1826, in Gallipolis, Ohio. He lived in his birthplace until he was seventeen, then moved to Cincinnati where he lived with his brother-in-law and trained to become a plasterer. Bell worked and attended Gilmore High School, an institution dedicated to the instruction of African American youth. Opened by the Reverend Hiram S. Gilmore, the high school was associated with Oberlin College. Little else is known about Bell’s early life, particularly his time in Gallipolis.