IN the great and terrible wilderness
I wandered in thirst and dread;
The burning sands were beneath my feet,
And the fierce 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.