Each week we carefully curate a collection of poems that resonate with the lectionary readings for that week (Narrative Lectionary and Revised Common Lectionary).
*** Revised Common Lectionary ***
Lectionary Reading:
Matthew 22:34-46
CLASSIC POEM:
Neither durst any Man from that day
ask Him any more Questions.
Richard Crashaw
Midst all the dark and knotty snares,
Black wit or malice can or dares,
Thy glorious wisdom breaks the nets,
And treads with uncontrolled steps.
Thy quell’d foes are not only now
Thy triumphs, but Thy trophies too:
They, both at once Thy conquests be,
And Thy conquest’s memory.
Stony amazement makes them stand
Waiting on Thy victorious hand,
Like statues fixed to the fame
Of Thy renown, and their own shame:
As if they only meant to breathe,
To be the life of their own death.
‘Twas time to hold their peace when they
Had ne’er another word to say:
Yet is their silence unto Thee,
The full sound of Thy victory:
Their silence speaks aloud, and is
They well pronounced panegyris.
While they speak nothing, they speak all
Their share in Thy memorial.
While they speak nothing, they proclaim
Thee with the shrillest trump of fame.
To hold their peace is all the ways
These wretches have to speak Thy praise.
*** This poem is in the public domain,
and may be read in a live-streamed worship service.
CONTEMPORARY POEM:
As I Walked Out One Evening
W.H. Auden
SNIPPET:
…
But all the clocks in the city
Began to whirr and chime:
‘O let not Time deceive you,
You cannot conquer Time.
‘In the burrows of the Nightmare
Where Justice naked is,
Time watches from the shadow
And coughs when you would kiss.
…
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C. Christopher Smith is the founding editor of The Englewood Review of Books. He is also author of a number of books, including most recently How the Body of Christ Talks: Recovering the Practice of Conversation in the Church (Brazos Press, 2019). Connect with him online at: C-Christopher-Smith.com
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