The Cloven Rock

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!