There was a time when I was confident
That God’s stupendous mystery of birth
Was mine to know. The wonder of it lent
New ecstasy and glory to the earth.
I heard no voice that uttered it aloud,
Nor was it written for me on a scroll;
Yet, if alone or in the common crowd,
I felt myself a consecrated soul.
My child leaped in its dark and silent room
And cried, ‘I am,’ though all unheard by men.
So leaps my spirit in the body’s gloom
And cries, ‘I live! I shall be born again.’
Elate with certitude towards death I go,
Nor doubt, nor argue, since I know, I know!