Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE VISION ON THE MOUNT, by PHOEBE CARY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Oh, if this living soul, that many a time Last Line: The shadow of the lord has passed us by. Subject(s): Religion; Theology | ||||||||
OH, if this living soul, that many a time Above the low things of the earth doth climb, Up to the mountain-top of faith sublime, If she could only stay In that high place alway, And hear, in reverence bowed, God's voice behind the cloud: Or if descending to the earth again Its lesson in the heart might still remain; If we could keep the vision, clear and plain, Nor let one jot escape, So that we still might shape Our lives to deeds sublime By that exalted time: Ah! what a world were ours to journey through! What deeds of love and mercy we should do: Making our lives so beautiful and true, That in our face would shine The light of love divine, Showing that we had stood Upon the mount of God. But earthy of the earth, we downward tend, From the pure height of faith our feet descend, The hour of exaltation hath its end. And we, alas! forget, In life's turmoil and fret, The pattern to us shown, When on the mount alone. Yea, we forget the rapture we had known, Forget the voice that talked to us alone, Forget the brightness past, the cloud that shone; We have no need to veil Our faces, dim and pale, So soon from out them dies The sweet light of the skies. We come down from the height where we have been, And build our tabernacles low and mean, Not by the pattern in the vision seen Remembering no more, When once the hour is o'er, How in the safe cleft of the rock on high, The shadow of the Lord has passed us by. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MYSTIC BOUNCE by TERRANCE HAYES MATHEMATICS CONSIDERED AS A VICE by ANTHONY HECHT UNHOLY SONNET 11 by MARK JARMAN SHINE, PERISHING REPUBLIC by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE COMING OF THE PLAGUE by WELDON KEES A LITHUANIAN ELEGY by ROBERT KELLY A LEGEND OF THE NORTHLAND by PHOEBE CARY |
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