Friday, July 27, 2007

Poetry Friday

And behold while I sang... but O Thou who didst grant me that day,
And before it not seldom hast granted thy help to essay,
Carry on and complete an adventure,---my shield and my sword
In that act where my soul was thy servant, thy word was my word,---
Still be with me, who then at the summit of human endeavour
And scaling the highest, man's thought could, gazed hopeless as ever
On the new stretch of heaven above me---till, mighty to save,
Just one lift of thy hand cleared that distance---God's throne from man's grave!
Let me tell out my tale to its ending---my voice to my heart
Which can scarce dare believe in what marvels last night I took part,
As this morning I gather the fragments, alone with my sheep,
And still fear lest the terrible glory evanish like sleep!
For I wake in the grey dewy covert, while Hebron upheaves
The dawn struggling with night on his shoulder, and Kidron retrieves
Slow the damage of yesterday's sunshine.

Robert Browning,
Saul

3 comments:

lissla lissar said...

Beatiful.

Do you like T. S. Eliot? I really love A Song for Simeon and The Journey of the Magi. I especially love
"Now at this brith season of decease
Let the Infant, the still unspeaking and unspoken Word
Grant Israel's consolation
To one who has eighty years, and no tomorrow."

lissla lissar said...

Bother. "Birth".

Willa said...

TS Eliot is a favorite. Thanks for the poem names -- I will check them out.