Kings and crowns and armies

Kings and crowns and armies
Are the miracles of piety;
Piety is the king of king!
Greatest of the great.

What does knowledge gain?
Purity of reason;
What does piety aim at?
Purity of the eye and the heart.

Knowledge brings wisdom,
And piety the spirit of prophets,
Knowledge is a seeker,
Piety is a discoverer.

Knowledge is information;
Piety is vision;
Knowledge forbids rapture;
In piety it is a virtue.

When Selfhood as a weapon
Is reinforced by piety,
A soldier has the power
Of a phalanx of armed men.

If, encased in dust,
Thy heart has power supernal,
Thy look alone can pierce and shatter
The glassy sphere of the sun and moon.