After Our Likeness

Before me now a little picture lies-

A little shadow of a childish face,

Childishly sweet, yet with the dawning grace

Of thought and wisdom on her lips and eyes.

Fair, oval, broad-brow’d face-small, delicate head-

Transparent skin, with blue veins shining through-

All the soft outlines, beautiful and true,

Bring me the echo of the words “God said.”

Made “in our image”-sure ’tis that we see,

God’s likeness, in the fair face of a child,

By the world’s sin and passion undefiled-

Ay, as I look, it seems quite plain to me.

The light wherein the little features shine,

Strange, mystic light, so undefined and faint,

So far too pure for any words to paint-

‘Tis a reflection of the Face divine.

Some day the earthly shadows will be cast

Across that sunshine-it may be to dim

Awhile the visible countenance of Him;

But ’twill be there-the likeness-to the last.

Some day the lucid waters, in which lie

Pictured those glorious lineaments, will be

Stirred up and troubled like a stormy sea;-

But they will yet re-settle-by-and-by.

They will re-settle when the soul is still’d,

Its passions, its wild longings, and its pain;

The pure reflection will shine out again

When earth’s hopes are relinquish’d, unfulfill’d.

They will re-settle in those after-years

When life’s hard lessons have been conned and learn’d;

When this child’s beauty will have all return’d,

More lovely for the trouble and the tears.

They will re-settle in the calm of death,

When the sweet eyes are laid asleep, and when

The heart is hush’d. Truly God’s likeness then-

The mirror clear, unsullied by a breath.

Ah! while I look, and trace each tender line,

I think most of the day when I shall see

The dear face in that perfect purity,

Its mortal features clothed with the divine.

This self-same face, but with the image bright,

Nevermore undefined, and faint, and dim;

This self-same face, yet like the face of Him,

In glory and in beauty infinite.

Poetry Monster – Home

A few random poems:

External links

Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus

Talking Writing Monster’s Page –

Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh

Poems in English 

• Another Way Of Love by Robert Browning by Robert Browning
• Andrea del Sarto by Robert Browning by Robert Browning
• An Epistle Containing the Strange Medical Experience of Kar by Robert Browning by Robert Browning
• Among the Rocks by Robert Browning by Robert Browning
• Aix In Provence by Robert Browning by Robert Browning
• Abt Vogler by Robert Browning by Robert Browning
• A Woman’s Last Word by Robert Browning by Robert Browning
• A Toccata Of Galuppi’s by Robert Browning by Robert Browning
• A Serenade At The Villa by Robert Browning by Robert Browning
• A Pretty Woman by Robert Browning by Robert Browning
• A Lovers’ Quarrel by Robert Browning by Robert Browning
• A Light Woman by Robert Browning by Robert Browning
• A Grammarian’s Funeral by Robert Browning by Robert Browning
• The Song of Death by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• The Ploughman’s Life by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• The Ordination by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• The Inventory by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• The Farewell to the Brethren of St. James’s Lodge by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• The Brigs of Ayr by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Suppressed Stanzas of “The Vision” by Robert Burns by Robert Burns

More external links (open in a new tab):

Russian Commerce Agency

Dealing Monster

Doska or the Board – write anything

Search engines:

Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)

Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.

Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees

Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.

Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.

 

Parallel Translations of Poetry

Poems by Author and Category

The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works