Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A CHILD OF GOD LONGING TO SEE HIM BELOVED, by JEANNE MARIE BOUVIER DE LA MOTTE GUYON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A CHILD OF GOD LONGING TO SEE HIM BELOVED, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: There's not an echo round me
Last Line: Who fill a child with fear.
Alternate Author Name(s): Guion, De La Mothe; Guyon, Jeanne Marie Bouvieres De La Mothe; Guyon Du Chesnoy


THERE'S not an echo round me,
But I am glad should learn
How pure a fire has found me,
The love with which I burn.
For none attends with pleasure
To what I would reveal;
They slight me out of measure,
And laugh at all I feel.

The rocks receive less proudly
The story of my flame;
When I approach, they loudly
Reverberate His name.
I speak to them of sadness,
And comforts at a stand;
They bid me look for gladness,
And better days at hand.

Far from all habitation,
I heard a happy sound,
Big with the consolation
That I have often found;
I said, "My lot is sorrow,
"My grief has no alloy;"
The rocks replied--"To-morrow,
"To-morrow brings thee joy."

These sweet and secret tidings
What bliss it is to hear!
For, spite of all my chidings,
My weakness and my fear,
No sooner I receive them,
Than I forget my pain,
And, happy to believe them,
I love as much again.

I fly to scenes romantic,
Where never men resort;
For in an age so frantic
Impiety is sport;
For riot and confusion
They barter things above,
Condemning, as delusion,
The joy of perfect love.

In this sequestered corner,
None hears what I express;
Delivered from the scorner,
What peace do I possess!
Beneath the boughs reclining,
Or roving o'er the wild,
I live as undesigning
And harmless as a child.

No troubles here surprise me;
I innocently play,
While Providence supplies me,
And guards me all the day:
My dear and kind Defender
Preserves me safely here,
From men of pomp and splendour,
Who fill a child with fear.





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