Listening

I shall lend mine ear, Lord, listening.
No confusion of the day shall appall me,
Neither the awesome expanse of night.
I shall be confident in the morning,
And lose no faith with the day.
I shall be steadfast through the night,
Lingering an instant in her embrace,
That I whisper a pledge, a pledge to morning,
Proving thereby my fickleness
To this hour of departure!
I shall lend mine ear, Lord, I shall hark.
Oft, oft I have heard that still small voice
Whispering little fitful chidings or
Insistently gnawing. Oft, oft I have acclaimed
Mine own wisdom, while the voice laughed,
Laughed a tinkling laugh, such as a fool
Might spill, and whispered: "Care, care, follied one!"
Oft, oft I have pondered deeply, coming to
That culmination, which gives comfort
In the exultance of victory, and heard that voice
Laughing, laughing-Yea, seemed to see
A pair of careless lips whiffing dusts,
Little motes, so: "Poof!"
And all my ponderance fell to ash!
I am undone, for mine ear has learned to list,
And in learning this I have come to know-
That this insistent voice is Thee'