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. 

Credit

From A Chant of Mystics (James T. White & Co., 1921) by Ameen Rihani. This poem is in the public domain.