Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Summer

[no mention of the Christian faith, but still a lovely poem BY a Christian!] Winter is cold-hearted Spring is yea and nay, Autumn is a weather-cock Blown every way: Summer days for me When every leaf is on its tree; When Robin's not a beggar, And Jenny Wren's a bride, And larks hang singing, singing, singing, Over the wheat-fields wide, And anchored lilies ride, And the pendulum spider Swings from side to side, And blue-black beetles transact business, And gnats fly in a host, And furry caterpillars hasten That no time be lost, And moths grow fat and thrive, And ladybirds arrive. Before green apples blush, Before green nuts embrown, Why, one day in the country Is worth a month in town; Is worth a day and a year Of the dusty, musty, lag-last fashion That days drone elsewhere. ---Christina Rosetti, 1866

Thursday, July 1, 2010

The Navy Hymn

(for American Independence Day, July 4th)

Eternal Father, Strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bid'st the mighty Ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep*;
O hear us when we cry to thee,
for those in peril on the sea.

O Christ! Whose voice the waters heard
And hushed their raging at Thy word,
Who walked'st on the foaming deep,
and calm amidst its rage didst sleep**;
Oh hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea!

Most Holy spirit! Who didst brood
Upon the chaos dark and rude,
And bid its angry tumult cease,
And give, for wild confusion, peace;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea!

O Trinity of love and power!
Our brethren shield in danger's hour;
From rock and tempest, fire and foe,
Protect them wheresoe'er they go;
Thus evermore shall rise to Thee,
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.
---adapted from Rev. William Whiting, 1861

*From the Book of Job; Yahweh reminds Job that He set the limits of the ocean at the beginning of time.
**Jesus walked upon the water and calmed the stormy waters of the Sea of Galilee in the gospels. During one of these episodes, He slept on deck while the storm raged until His panicked disciples woke Him up.
***Genesis 1: The Holy Spirit brooded on the formlessness, the waters, before creation began