How marvelous God’s greatness!
How glorious His might!
To this the world bears witness
in wonders day and night-
in form of flow’r and snowflake,
in morn’s resplendent birth,
in afterglow at even,
in sky and sea and earth.

Each tiny flow’ret whispers
the great Life-giver’s Name;
the mighty mountain masses
His majesty proclaim;
the hollow vales are hymning
God’s shelter for His own;
the snow-capped peaks are pointing
to God’s almighty throne.

The ocean’s vast abysses
in one grand psalm record
the deep mysterious counsels
and mercies of the Lord;
the icy waves of winter
are thund’ring on the strand;
and grief’s chill stream is guided
by God’s all-gracious hand.

The starry hosts are singing
thro’ all the light-strewn sky
of God’s eternal temple
and palace courts on high;
when in these outer chambers
such glory gilds the night,
O, what transcendent brightness
is God’s eternal light!

—Valdimar Briem, 1886