Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, O! WONDROUS DEATH, by RICHARD CHENEVIX TRENCH


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

O! WONDROUS DEATH, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Where thou hast touched, oh, wondrous death!
Last Line: Life-giving food for souls an-hungered.


I.

Where thou hast touched, Oh, wondrous Death!
Where thou hast come between,
Lo! there for ever perisheth
The common and the mean.

No little flaw, or trivial speck
Doth any more appear,
And cannot from this time, to fleck
Love's perfect image clear.

Clear stands Love's perfect image now,
And shall do evermore,
And we in awe and wonder bow,
The glorified before.

II.

A dewdrop falling on the wild sea wave,
Exclaimed in fear--"I perish in this grave";
But in a shell received, that drop of dew
Unto a pearl of marvellous beauty grew;
And, happy now, the grace did magnify
Which thrust it forth--as first it feared, to die;--
Until again, "I perish quite," it said,
Torn by rude diver from its ocean bed;
O unbelieving!--so it came to gleam
Chief jewel in a Monarch's diadem.

III.

The seed must die before the corn appears
Out of the ground, in blade and fruitful ears.
Low must those ears by sickle's edge be lain,
Ere thou canst treasure up the golden grain.
The grain is crushed, before the bread is made,
And the bread broke, ere life to man conveyed.
Oh! be content to die, to be laid low,
And to be crushed, and to be broken so;
If thou upon God's table may'st be bread,
Life-giving food for souls an-hungered.





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