Three from Morrison V

Poems from Masterpieces of Religious Verse.

"With Whom is no Variableness, Neither Shadow of Turning"

It fortifies my soul to know
That, though I perish, Truth is so:
That, howsoe'er I stray and range,
Whate'er I do, Thou dost not change.
I steadier step when I recall
That, if I slip, Thou dost not fall.

Arthur Hugh Clough (1819-1861)

All Beautiful the March of Days

All beautiful the march of days,
   As seasons come and go;
The hand that shaped the rose hath wrought
   The crystal of the snow;
Hath sent the hoary frost of heaven,
   The flowing waters sealed,
And laid a silent loveliness
   On hill, and wood, and field.

O'er white expanses sparkling pure
   The radiant morns unfold;
The solemn splendours of the night
   Burn brighter through the cold:
Life mounts in every throbbing vein,
   Love deepens round the hearth,
And clearer sounds the angel-hymn,
   “Good will to men on earth.”

O Thou from whose unfathomed law
   The year in beauty flows,
Thyself the vision passing by
   In crystal and in rose:
Day unto day doth utter speech,
   And night to night proclaim,
In everlasting words of light,
   The wonder of Thy Name.

Frances Whitmarsh Wile (1878-1939)

Lines Written in Her Breviary

Let nothing disturb thee,
Nothing affright thee;
All things are passing;
God never changeth;
Patient endurance
Attaineth to all things;
Who God possesseth
In nothing is wanting;
Alone God sufficeth.

St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
tr. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

Masterpieces of Religious Verse (1948), ed. James Dalton Morrison, ## 129, 18, 130.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sun. 01/04/04 10:04:59 AM
Categorized as Literary & Religious & Sunday Poetry Series.