Worlds swarm about Thee, O Lord, like bees about a blossoming cherry tree. One world presses out another; one disputes another's patrimony; one looks upon another as an intruder in its own home. All lay greater claim to Thee than Thou Thyself.
From the overflowing of Thy fullness the swarms are fed, O Inexhaustible Sweetness. All overeat, and all go away hungry.
Of all the swarms, the swarm of men goes away hungriest. Not, O Householder, because Thou hast no food for men, but because they know not their own food, and so contend with the caterpillars over the same tender shoots.
Before all creatures, and before time and sorrow, Thou, O Lord, didst shape man in Thy heart. Man Thou didst conceive first, though Thou didst manifest him last upon the prayer-beads of creation. As the gardener thinks all the while of the flower of the rose while he digs and plants the dry briars. As the builder, planning a temple, delights first in the domes, though he builds them last.
First Thou didst give birth to man in Thy heart, before Thou didst begin creation.
Help my mortal tongue to name that man, that radiance of Thy glory, and that song of Thy blessedness. Shall I name him the All-Man? For as he was contained in Thy heart, so in his mind was contained the whole manifested world, with man and the heralds of man.
And no one knew the Father save the Son, neither did any know the Son save the Father. As Nirvana wast Thou, O Lord, until the Son was conceived in Thee; without number and without name wast Thou.
How shall I magnify Thee from the midst of a swarm of hungry caterpillars, which one wind carries to the blossoming cherry tree and another carries away, and whose whole lifetime lies between two winds?
O Lord, my dream by day and by night, help me to magnify Thee. That nothing may become great to my heart save Thee.
Let all creatures magnify Thee, O Lord, not that they might make Thee great, but themselves.
Truly, Thou art too great, O Lord, for all our hymns to make Thee greater.
And when all the swarms of insects are blown away from the blossoming cherry tree, the cherry tree remains the same in her greatness and her springtime beauty.