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).
*** Revised Common Lectionary ***
Lectionary Reading:
1 John 5:9-13
CLASSIC POEM:
The Signs of Life
Liberty Hyde Bailey
Ha, ye dead thing upon the ground
How few of ye I’ve ever found
And I have tramped it far and wide
By wood and wash and ripple-side!
And often have I wondered where
The bodies of the dead misfare, —
Of all the multitudes of those
The variegated life compose
Of field and sea and air and earth
Throughout the planet’s spacious girth.
Some pass life’s full allotted span;
On some there is the ’scapeless ban
That takes them early to the pit—
Where be the graves of the unfit?
But soon or late the day is sped
And strong and weak alike are dead,
They meet the summons where they are
And ev’ry death is singular;
And yet these millions pass unseen
And leave scant trace to intervene.
The gaps fill in; the earth is rife
With energy that mastereth;—
The upward signs of birth and life
Are greater than the signs of death.
*** This poem is in the public domain,
and may be read in a live-streamed worship service.
CONTEMPORARY POEM:
Prayers for the Protection
and Opening of the Heart
Ya’akov Hakohen
SNIPPET:
…
I-am is the power of your Name in concealment,
and one who knows its mystery dwells in eternity’s instant.
Over the world, it pours forth abundance and favor,
and on it all worlds hang, like grapes in a cluster.
Send the dew of blessing, the dew of grace;
renew my dispensation, and grant me length of days.
…
[ READ THE FULL POEM ]
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