hymn

✂ the house of my certainty
is so vast
that I never can touch its walls -

✂ the room of my deepest desire
is so sacred
that none but my friend and my woman
can be permitted to enter -

✂ the tower of my watchman's eye
is so high
that the fall of my death
never can reach
the aim of my fear -

✂ the sword of my pride
is so hard
that never the corroding impurity
assembled from all the world
can stain its brightness -

✂ to every upright soul in distress
the house of my certainty
is open -
to every fighting will of blood
my gleaming eye
is the unfailing sign of victory,
of inexhaustible rest -
to every succumbing purity
the garden of my healing love
is prepared
with unvanquished tenderness -

✂ the house of my certainty
is nobody's property -
I
am the ever-watching opener
of its silent gate -