Lectionary Poetry – 26th Sunday After Pentecost ( Year B )

With the dawn of a new church year, we have launched a new feature on our website, a weekly post of poetry that resonates with the lectionary readings for that week.

* Revised Common Lectionary *

Lectionary Reading:
2 Samuel 23:1-7 and Psalm 132:1-12, (13-18)

CLASSIC POEM:

The Lamp of Life
Amy Lowell

Always we are following a light,
Always the light recedes; with groping hands
We stretch toward this glory, while the lands
We journey through are hidden from our sight
Dim and mysterious, folded deep in night,
We care not, all our utmost need demands
Is but the light, the light! So still it stands
Surely our own if we exert our might.
Fool! Never can’st thou grasp this fleeting gleam,
Its glowing flame would die if it were caught,
Its value is that it doth always seem
But just a little farther on. Distraught,
But lighted ever onward, we are brought
Upon our way unknowing, in a dream.

*** This poem is in the public domain,
and may be read in a live-streamed worship service.