Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TESTIMONY, by EMMA GRAY TRIGG


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TESTIMONY, by                    
First Line: I have no gallant words to shape a creed
Last Line: For creeds more personal than a thrush's song!


I have no gallant words to shape a creed.
I have no creed, perhaps, but shadow words.
They lack all substance when my aching need
Cries out for faith, the simple faith of birds
That sing of certainty from a fragile nest.
Instead these shifting patterns on the grass,
Blown feathers from a southbound robin's breast
And autumn tell me, "leaf and singer pass."

Yet from the depths of earth's profoundest night
Trees build their spires and arches toward the sun,
Steeples of faith and towers of green delight,
Holding no ritual and needing none.
Faith is the springing sap. Why should I long
For creeds more personal than a thrush's song!





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