Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees takes off his shoes.
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries,
And daub their natural faces unaware
More and more from the first similitude.
--Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
O Name all other names above,
What art thou not to me,
Now I have learned to trust thy love
And cast my care on thee!
The thought of thee all sorrow calms;
Our anxious burdens fall;
His crosses turn to triumph palms
Who finds in God his all.
--Frederick Lucian Hosmer.
Far off thou art, but ever nigh,
I have thee still, and I rejoice,
I prosper circled with thy voice;
I shall not lose thee though I die.
--Alfred Tennyson.
Let the Loved One but smile on this poor heart of mine,
I will sell the two worlds for one drop of his wine.
--From the Persian.
CONFIDENCE
Thy presence, Lord, the place doth fill,
My heart is now thy throne,
Thy holy, just and perfect will
Now in my flesh is done.
My steadfast soul, from falling free,
Doth now no longer rove,
For Christ is all the world to me
And all my heart is love.
--Charles Wesley, altered by J. M.
Two worlds are ours; 'tis only sin
Forbids us to descry
The mystic heaven and earth within
Plain as the sea and sky.
Thou who hast given me eyes to see
And love this sight so fair,
Give me a heart to find out thee,
And read thee everywhere.
--John Keble.
Speak to him, thou, for he hears,
And spirit with spirit can meet;
Closer is he than breathing,
And nearer than hands and feet.
--Alfred Tennyson.
Heaven above is softer blue,
Earth around is sweeter green,
Something lives in every hue
Christless eyes have never seen.
Birds with gladder songs o'erflow,
Flowers with deeper beauties shine;
Since I knew, as now I know,
I am his and he is mine.
Unheard, because our ears are dull,
Unseen, because our eyes are dim,
He walks the earth, the Wonderful,
And all good deeds are done to him.
--John Greenleaf Whittier.
Where'er I look one Face alone I see,
With every attribute of beauty in it blent;
Still, still the Godhead's face entrances me,
Yielding transcendency of all that can be spent.
--From the Persian.
IMMANENCE
Not only in the cataract and the thunder
Or in the deeps of man's uncharted soul,
But in the dew-star dwells alike the wonder
And in the whirling dust-mite the control.
--Charles G. D. Roberts.
'Tis greatly wise to talk with our past hours
And ask them what report they bore to heaven.
--Edward Young.
A governed heart, thinking no thought but good,
Makes crowded houses holy solitude.
--Edwin Arnold.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Poems with Power to Strengthen the Soul — John Shaqi
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