The earth grows old with travail and sighs,
And signs are burning in the skies;
The seas shall roar, the stars shall fall,
And trumpet-voices shake them all.
The nations rage, the proud conspire,
Yet heaven answers with holy fire;
The hidden things shall be revealed,
And every secret word be sealed.
For truth to come now stands at hand,
A sword of light throughout the land;
It searches deep, it rends the veil,
And none who sleep shall stand prevail.
The watchers hear the midnight cry,
When powers of darkness multiply;
The lamp grows dim, the oil is low,
And many do not seek to know.
Yet some remain with humble fear,
And know the coming Judge is near;
They watch the clouds, they cleave to prayer,
And wait for Him who meets them there.
For when the heavens split in flame,
And every tongue confesses name,
The meek shall stand, the remnant see
The Lamb enthroned in majesty.
So let me be among that few
Who keep their garments clean and true;
Who watch through storm, who pray through night,
And walk in dread and holy light.
Beyond Lord and Lords
Poeple speak the name of Lord above,
And bow before the God of love;
Yet deeper than the mind can roam,
There waits a light no words make known.
For who created the First of all,
Before the dawn, before the call?
Who shaped the heights, who set the sea,
And held the hidden mystery that nothing it had created could ever understand.
The first law in the universe still stands true:
Chaos , the giver, and taker of life,remains until the hand of power draws it through.
The deep gives way, the ordered breaks,
And all creation trembles, wakes.
No hand of clay, no thought of man,
Can measure Him whose breath began
The worlds, the ages, time, and space—
Life live so close to it,
Yet hides His glory, face to face.
He is not made, nor born, nor known
By laws that bind the flesh and bone
Planet, Stars, universes or anything we call home;
The Source before all sources came,
The Fire beyond all throne and name.
Above all lords, above all powers,
Beyond the reach of mortal hours,
The One Unmade, the Evermore,
The Holy Silence at the core.
So sit in his silence and learn his name.
No mind can grasp, no tongue can bind,
The boundless One beyond all kind;
Yet in the thunder, star, and flame,
Creation whispers out His name.
So let the wise grow still and low,
Before the One none can outgrow;
For what is highest, deepest, vast,
Was in His mystery hidden fast.
No living force could ever understand
His hidden plan, His sovereign hand;
So sit in silence, learn His name,
For ancient peoples knew the same.
Do not be shocked by what you hear,
For truth often meets denial and fear;
Humans reject what they do not see,
And turn from what was meant to be.