To you, O God, who made the endless skies,
In motion set the vast upsurging sea;
Who styled a world of infinite surprise
And in its swimming wonder settled me;
To you this speck of life lifts up its eyes
In awe at how this tiny breath of time
Can sense an impulse deep within it climb
That only You could pique
And makes mankind unique
Among creation, makes him quite sublime:
An urge whose sweetness soothes his restless days
And to its central act
The soul calls back
To sing in endless praise.
Jeffrey Essmann is an essayist and poet living in New York. His poetry has appeared in numerous magazines and literary journals, among them Dappled Things, the St. Austin Review, Amethyst Review, Pensive Journal, Forma Journal, The Society of Classical Poets, and various venues of the Benedictine monastery with which he is an oblate. He is editor of The Catholic Poetry Room.