Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE KINGDOM OF GOD, by FRANCIS THOMPSON



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE KINGDOM OF GOD, by         Recitation by Author     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: O world invisible, we view thee
Last Line: Not of gennesareth, but thames!
Variant Title(s): In No Strange Land
Subject(s): Christianity; Faith; Jesus Christ; Religion; Belief; Creed; Theology


O world invisible, we view thee,
O world intangible, we touch thee,
O world unknowable, we know thee,
Inapprehensible, we clutch thee!
Does the fish soar to find the ocean,
The eagle plunge to find the air --
That we ask of the stars in motion
If they have rumour of thee there?
Not where the wheeling systems darken,
And our benumbed conceiving soars! --
The drift of pinions, would we hearken,
Beats at our own clay-shutter'd doors.
The angels keep their ancient places; --
Turn but a stone, and start a wing!
'Tis ye, 'tis your estranged faces,
That miss the many-splendour'd thing.
But (when so sad thou canst not sadder)
Cry; -- and upon thy so sore loss
Shall shine the traffic of Jacob's ladder
Pitched betwixt Heaven and Charing Cross.
Yea, in the night, my Soul, my daughter,
Cry, -- clinging Heaven by the hems;
And lo, Christ walking on the water
Not of Gennesareth, but Thames!







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