Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SAINT PAUL: 9, by FREDERICK WILLIAM HENRY MYERS


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SAINT PAUL: 9, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Thou with strong prayer and very much entreating
Last Line: Nothing disdainful of the virgin's womb.
Alternate Author Name(s): Myers, Frederic
Subject(s): Paul, Saint (1st Century); Saul Of Tarsus


Thou with strong prayer and very much entreating
Willest be asked, and thou shalt answer then,
Show the hid heart beneath creation beating,
Smile with kind eyes and be a man with men.

Were it not thus, o King of my salvation,
Many would curse to thee and I for one,
Fling thee thy bliss and snatch at thy damnation,
Scorn and abhor the shining of the sun,

Ring with a reckless shivering of laughter
Wroth at the woe which thou hast seen so long,
Question if any recompense hereafter
Waits to atone the intolerable wrong:

Is there not wrong too bitter for atoning?
What are these desperate and hideous years?
Hast thou not heard thy whole creation groaning,
Sighs of the bondsmen, and a woman's tears?

Yes, and to her, the beautiful and lowly,
Mary a maiden, separate from men,
Camest thou nigh and didst possess her wholly,
Close to thy saints, but thou wast closer then.

Once and for ever didst thou show thy chosen,
Once and for ever magnify thy choice;—
Scorched in love's fire or with his freezing frozen,
Lift up your hearts, ye humble, and rejoice!

Not to the rich he came or to the ruling,
(Men full of meat, whom wholly he abhors,)
Not to the fools grown insolent in fooling
Most, when the lost are dying at the doors;

Nay but to her who with a sweet thanks-giving
Took in tranquillity what God might bring,
Blessed him and waited, and within her living
Felt the arousal of a Holy Thing.

Ay for her infinite and endless honour
Found the Almighty in this flesh a tomb,
Pouring with power the Holy Ghost upon her,
Nothing disdainful of the Virgin's womb.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net