Infinitude

Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast. (Psalm xxxvi. 5-6.)

1.
If I could pace with measured tread
          The trackless course the stars have run,
If I could sail my barque across
          The sea of lights beyond the sun,
And if I came at voyage end
          Unto the misty edge of things
And in the thund’rous overflow
          Plunged o’er, whence the eternal springs,
Then greater still, O LORD, would be
The vast infinitude of Thee.

2.
Your steadfast love and loyal care
          Are like the heavens o’er me spread;
Their spangled glories calm my fears
          When darkness makes for me a bed.
Their constellations shape the script
          By which in trial I construe
Your covenant of ceaseless grace
          And mercies for me ever new.

3.
Your faithfulness arrayed on high
          A bow of promise is to me,
An arch of varicolored Truth,
          Your Word, my perfect panoply.
Above me tow’rs Your awesome Name;
          Majestic is the glory cloud
That leads me on my weary way
          Unto the place Your oath avowed.

4.
Your righteousness, like Ararat,
          A landmark rises o’er the plain,
With snow-clad peaks of purity
          Unsullied by the creature’s stain.
Since all Your ways and all Your acts
          Are ever just and clean and right,
On Thee I stand, O Mighty Rock,
          And doubt and fear are put to flight.

5.
Your judgments, like the sea’s expanse,
          To sense and sight are all laid bare;
Your justice is the deep below
          In which your suit you do prepare,
Where cryptic tides of rectitude
          Impartial and discerning flow;
Unfathomed is the dread abyss
          In which my secret thoughts You know.

6.
For height, nor depth, nor length, nor breadth
          Can e’er avail to compass Thee,
Nor creature thing can e’er compare
          With Your divine sublimity.
Could I an epic fortress build
          Of steel and stone for my repose,
Could angel warriors stand without
          With flaming swords against my foes,
Then swifter still, LORD, do I flee
To the infinitude of Thee.

–Matthew W. Hanna