Classic and Contemporary Poetry
PERE LALEMANT, by MARJORIE LOWRY CHRISTIE PICKTHALL Poet's Biography First Line: I lift the lord on high Last Line: Thy everlasting arms. Subject(s): Lalemant, Gabriel; Missions & Missionaries | ||||||||
I LIFT the Lord on high, Under the murmuring hemlock boughs, and see The small birds of the forest lingering by And making melody. These are mine acolytes and these my choir, And this mine altar in the cool green shade, Where the wild soft-eyed does draw nigh Wondering, as in the byre Of Bethlehem the oxen heard Thy cry And saw Thee, unafraid. My boatmen sit apart, Wolf-eyed, wolf-sinewed, stiller than the trees. Help me, O Lord, for very slow of heart And hard of faith are these. Cruel are they, yet Thy children. Foul are they, Yet wert Thou born to save them utterly. Then make me as I pray, Just to their hates, kind to their sorrows, wise After their speech, and strong before their free Indomitable eyes. Do the French lilies reign O'er Mont Royal and Stadacona still ? Up the St. Lawrence comes the spring again, Crowning each southward hill And blossoming pool with beauty, while I roam Far from the perilous folds that are my home, There where we built St. Ignace for our needs, Shaped the rough roof tree, turned the first sweet sod, St. Ignace and St. Louis, little beads On the rosary of God. Pines shall Thy pillars be, Fairer than those Sidonian cedars brought By Hiram out of Tyre, and each birch-tree Shines like a holy thought. But come no worshippers; shall I confess, St. Francis-like, the birds of the wilderness? O, with Thy love my lonely head uphold. A wandering shepherd I, who hath no sheep; A wandering soul, who hath no scrip, nor gold, Nor anywhere to sleep. My hour of rest is done; On the smooth ripple lifts the long canoe; The hemlocks murmur sadly as the sun Slants his dim arrows through. Whither I go I know not, nor the way, Dark with strange passions, vexed with heathen charms, Holding I know not what of life or death; Only be Thou beside me day by day, Thy rod my guide and comfort, underneath Thy everlasting arms. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE ENGLISH GRAVEYARD IN MALACCA by KAREN SWENSON THE FOREIGN VOLUNTEERS AT MOTHER TERESA'S by KAREN SWENSON EPITAPH ON HENRY MARTYN by THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY THE CAPTURE OF LUCKNOW by WILLIAM MCGONAGALL FATHER LUCIEN GALTIER by HELEN LETHERT MEIER MORAVIAN MISSIONS by JAMES MONTGOMERY THE GENESIS OF A MISSIONARY by FREDERICK WILLIAM HENRY MYERS A CHILD'S SONG OF CHRISTMAS by MARJORIE LOWRY CHRISTIE PICKTHALL |
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