Chapter LII

These that from great afflictions came,
The martyrs with their tongues of flame,
And spirits of the Just, as well,
In companies innumerable;
With our still further voices blend,
All one with those that there ascend.
I heard their clouds of song arise
In full liturgic sacrifice!
One song from all their legions given
Came rolling through the deep of Heaven;
And far as vision’d eye could gaze,
Alike they worshipp’d in amaze;
And holy lauds, that I could hear
Far off the same, the same a-near,
Uprose before the living throne,
Where dwells the Infinite Unknown;
Where lives in light—the nameless Name,
Whose presence is a burning flame,
A flame of love—a flame of fire,
A God of mercy—and of ire!