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THE CLOVEN ROCK

Is. xxxii. 2.

          In the great and terrible wilderness
               I wandered in thirst and dread;
          The burning sands were beneath my feet,
               And the firece glow overhead.
          The fiery serpents and scorpions dire
               Dwelt in that lonely land,
          And around and afar, as a glimmering sea,
               The shadowless, trackless sand.
          
          Then came a day in my journey drear
               When I sank on the weary road,
          And there fell a shadow across the waste--
               The shade of the wings of God.
          The shadow solemn, and dark, and still,
               Lay cool on the purple sand;
          The shadow deep of a mighty Rock
               In a weary, thirsty land.
          
          Of old from Heaven the thunder fell,
               And that mighty Rock was riven,
          And a river of water flowed down to me--
               A stream of the rain of Heaven.
          And the Hand that reft with the thunder dread
               The Rock of the Ages hoar,
          Down to my lips the waters led,
               And I thirsted nevermore.
          
          For out of the great eternal deep
               Those glorious waters flowed;
          They flowed from the fathomless depths of joy,
               They flowed from the Heart of God.
          From the depths of the tenderness all unknown,
               That passeth knowledge, they flow;
          I know it as ages of bliss roll on,
               Yet I never shall say, "I know."
          
          And there, before the Rock that was riven,
               At the feet of the Lord who died,
          I drink of the depths of the love of Heaven,
               The mighty, exhaustless tide.
          "Drink, drink abundantly, O beloved!
               I was smitten, accursed for thee."
          O lips as lilies, O mouth most sweet,
               That tell Thy heart to me!

C. P. C.


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