O world, I cannot hold thee close enough!
Thy winds, thy wide grey skies!
Thy mists, that roll and rise!
Thy woods, this autumn day, that ache and sag
And all but cry with colour! That gaunt crag
To crush! To lift the lean of that black bluff!
World, World, I cannot get thee close enough!
Long have I known a glory in it all,
But never knew I this;
Here such a passion is
As stretcheth me apart,—Lord, I do fear
Thou’st made the world too beautiful this year;
My soul is all but out of me,—let fall
No burning leaf; prithee, let no bird call.
Loving God’s world is a way to love God. The natural world helps us feel awe, leading us toward gratitude and worship. We may want to pull the glory of the world inside ourselves “to lift the lean of that black bluff” and take it with us everywhere.
The closer we come to awe, the more we lose ourselves in it. Millay’s speaker feels it stretching her apart. “My soul is all but out of me,” she writes, almost as if she fears she will lose herself to a world that is too beautiful. She fears she is not ready to lose herself.
If any of us are tempted to dismiss the world as merely temporary or passing, we miss the eternal glory and passion that has been placed there for us. Instead, let us feel stretched. Let us empty ourselves and love God’s world even more.