Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SEMITA JUSTORUM by JOHN HENRY NEWMAN

Poet Analysis

First Line: WHEN I LOOK BACK UPON MY FORMER RACE
Last Line: AND GIRDING ME TO WORK HIS FULL BEHEST.

WHEN I look back upon my former race,
Seasons I see at which the Inward Ray
More brightly burn'd, or guided some new way;
Truth, in its wealthier scene and nobler space
Given for my eye to range, and feet to trace.
And next I mark, 'twas trial did convey,
Or grief or pain, or strange eventful day,
To my tormented soul such larger grace.
So now, whene'er, in journeying on, I feel
The shadow of the Providential Hand,
Deep breathless stirrings shoot across my breast,
Searching to know what He will now reveal,
What sink uncloak, what stricter rule command,
And girding me to work His full behest.



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