PROLOGUE 
 
THE FAITH OF LIFE 
 
“ Yea, with thine hate, O God, thou hast covered us.” 
SWINBURNE, Atalanta 
 
 
 
YEA, one singeth, with thine hate 
Thou hast covered us, O God ! 
Nay, another answers straight 
(Low his lute’s sweet period) : 
Sink those bitter staves of wrath ! 
Cease that angry trumpet’s blare ! 
Sunlight burns a rosy path 
Yonder through the sky to where 
Flowers bud and linnets sing ; 
Love’s expressed in everything ; 
We are covered with thy love