church bells beyond the stars heard
National Poetry Month, day 2:
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Prayer, the church's banquet; angels' age,
God's breath in man returning to his birth;
The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage;
The Christian plummet, sounding heaven and earth;
Engine against th' Almighty, sinner's tower,
Reversèd thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,
The six-days' world transposing in an hour;
A kind of tune which all things hear and fear:
Softness and peace and joy and love and bliss;
Exalted manna, gladness of the best;
Heaven in ordinary, man well dressed,
The milky way, the bird of paradise,
Church bells beyond the stars heard, the soul's blood,
The land of spices; something understood.
~ "Prayer (II)" by George Herbert
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i really love this poem ~ the imagery that Herbert uses to approximate a definition of "prayer" is so beautiful.
and i thought this poem was appropriate today, for Karol Jozef Wojtyla, a.k.a. Pope John Paul II. i'm not Catholic and i most certainly didn't agree with all his views, but i can acknowledge the fact that he was very influential and inspirational to millions of people, and i admire the strength of his character for remaining so active in spite of his health problems in the past years.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Prayer, the church's banquet; angels' age,
God's breath in man returning to his birth;
The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage;
The Christian plummet, sounding heaven and earth;
Engine against th' Almighty, sinner's tower,
Reversèd thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,
The six-days' world transposing in an hour;
A kind of tune which all things hear and fear:
Softness and peace and joy and love and bliss;
Exalted manna, gladness of the best;
Heaven in ordinary, man well dressed,
The milky way, the bird of paradise,
Church bells beyond the stars heard, the soul's blood,
The land of spices; something understood.
~ "Prayer (II)" by George Herbert
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
i really love this poem ~ the imagery that Herbert uses to approximate a definition of "prayer" is so beautiful.
and i thought this poem was appropriate today, for Karol Jozef Wojtyla, a.k.a. Pope John Paul II. i'm not Catholic and i most certainly didn't agree with all his views, but i can acknowledge the fact that he was very influential and inspirational to millions of people, and i admire the strength of his character for remaining so active in spite of his health problems in the past years.