The Two Brothers

In the grotto the forest designed,

   Where the fire-fly first dreamed of the sun

And the cricket first chirped to the blind

    Zoophyte,—in the cave of the mind

    We were born and our cradle is one.

We are brothers : together we dwelt

    Unknown and unheard and unseen

For aeons ; together we felt

The urge of the forces that melt

    The rocks into willowy green.

For aeons together we drifted

    In the molten abysses of flame,

While the cycles our heritage sifted

From the vapor and ooze, and uplifted

    The image that now bears our name.

I am God : thou art Man : but the light

    That mothers the planets, the sea

Of star-dust that roofs every height

Of the Universe, the gulfs of the night,—

    They are surging in thee as in me.

 But out of the Chaos, to lead us,

    The Giants that borrow our eyes

And lend us their shoulders, must heed us;—

They yield us their purpose, they deed us

    Forever the worlds and the skies.