For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
– Colossians 1.16–17
Based on the hymntune known as ‘Captain Kidd’, God Is Seen is written in the Dorian mode on B-flat. A B-flat minor triad is depressed and held sostenuto by the piano although the notes are never struck, resulting in an ethereal shimmering from sympathetic vibrations, around which moves the bass melody, easily recognizable as the source hymntune, and other piano chords not melodically driven.
The focus here is on the all-encompassing and inescapable presence of the Almighty from Whose presence we cannot flee, Who is in the highest heavens and the lowest depths, from the uttermost parts of the sea and in the darkness of night.
Through all the world below,
God is seen all around;
Search hills and valleys through,
There he's found.
The growing of the corn,
The lily and the thorn,
The pleasant and forlorn,
All declare God is there,
In the meadows drest in green,
There he's seen.See springs and water rise,
Fountains flow, rivers run;
The mist below the skies
Hides the sun;
Then down the rain doth pour
The ocean it doth roar,
And dash against the shore,
All to praise, in their lays,
That God that ne'er declines
His designs.The sun, to my surprise,
Speaks of God as he flies:
The comets in their blaze
Give him praise;
The shining of the stars
The moon as it appears,
His sacred name declares;
See them shine, all divine!
The shades in silence prove
God's above.Then let my station be
Here on earth, as I see
The sacred One in Three
All agree;
Through all the world is made,
The forest and the glade;
Nor let me be afraid,
Though I dwell on the hill
Since nature's works declare
God is there.