Devotional Pieces: Christian And Jew
A DIALOGUE
'Oh happy happy land!
Angels like rushes stand About the wells of light.'-- 'Alas, I have not eyes for this fair sight: Hold fast my hand.'--
'As in a soft wind, they
Bend all one blessed way, Each bowed in his own glory, star with star.'-- 'I cannot see so far, Here shadows are.'-- 10
'White-winged the cherubim,
Yet whiter seraphim, Glow white with intense fire of love.'-- 'Mine eyes are dim: I look in vain above, And miss their hymn.'--
'Angels, Archangels cry
One to other ceaselessly (I hear them sing) One "Holy, Holy, Holy" to their King.'-- 20 'I do not hear them, I.'--
'At one side Paradise
Is curtained from the rest, Made green for wearied eyes; Much softer than the breast Of mother-dove clad in a rainbow's dyes.
'All precious souls are there
Most safe, elect by grace, All tears are wiped for ever from their face: Untired in prayer 30 They wait and praise Hidden for a little space.
'Boughs of the Living Vine
They spread in summer shine Green leaf with leaf: Sap of the Royal Vine it stirs like wine In all both less and chief.
'Sing to the Lord,
All spirits of all flesh, sing; For He hath not abhorred 40 Our low estate nor scorn'd our offering: Shout to our King.'--
'But Zion said:
My Lord forgetteth me. Lo, she hath made her bed In dust; forsaken weepeth she Where alien rivers swell the sea.
'She laid her body as the ground,
Her tender body as the ground to those Who passed; her harpstrings cannot sound 50 In a strange land; discrowned She sits, and drunk with woes.'--
'O drunken not with wine,
Whose sins and sorrows have fulfilled the sum,-- Be not afraid, arise, be no more dumb; Arise, shine, For thy light is come.'--
'Can these bones live?'--
'God knows: The prophet saw such clothed with flesh and skin; A wind blew on them and life entered in; 60 They shook and rose. Hasten the time, O Lord, blot out their sin, Let life begin.'
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