Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A PSALM, by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A PSALM, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: O god, in whom my deepest being dwells
Last Line: Hide not thyself, let first love prove not wrong.
Alternate Author Name(s): Blunden, Edmund
Subject(s): Prayer; Religion; Theology


O GOD, in whom my deepest being dwells,
Unasking what Thy form or mind may be,
Hear once again the sighing trust that wells
From my late wildered breast, and comfort me!
I call, I call from this long vale of tears,
I lift my eyes to the hills, there fancying Thee:
O Thou whose whim or wisdom shapes the spheres,
Yet be my temple and kind sanctuary!

The ages like an army without end
Go conquering on, and lay rich trophies by,
Their cities triumph and their fanes extend,
In their strong rooms the taken mysteries lie.
But thence does earth put on a lovelier hue?
Does their light hearten, or but terrify?
Fast cometh on my enemy anew,
And Bashan's arrows darken all the sky.

Thence as a bird, as that poor wood-pigeon,
Which with shot wings from the curst gunner flees
Through the wild scowling evening on and on
And finds a mercy in some secret trees,
I fly to Thee; I lodge me in those boughs
Which shadowed through the hottest tyrannies
Thy early shepherds; then refreshed I rouse,
Spring through white skies, and light in flowering leas.

Reason, still mining in her rocks and reefs,
Is still refining; fancy paints as Thee
A witenagemote of daemon chiefs
For ever vying; forces not to see.
But nothing better than my fathers, I
Hear rather the heart's summons and go free
From all the heartless claims that multiply,
And still Thee Father call, and come to Thee.

Then though the light of the age far off reveal
Some tragic theme, and doubt grow doubly strong,
I happy am; I dare and need to kneel
To One who tuned great David's life to song.
My prayer, no more than not to lose that dew
And dawn that failed not yet my path along:
O God that Abraham and our Vaughan knew,
Hide not Thyself, let first love prove not wrong.





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