“And unto Adam He said…. cursed is the ground for thy sake. Thorns…. shall bring it forth.”
“And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on His head.”
In bitterest sorrow did the ground bring forth
Its fatal seed. Thine eye beheld the birth-
Beheld the travail of accursèd earth;
E’en then, O Lord! in greater love than wrath!
Thou sawest the sin that none could gather out-
The vineyard cover’d with the thorn and briar;
Thou sawest the fair land ready for the fire-
And still Thy pity compass’d it about.
Thou, O most merciful! didst spare the brand;
Thou didst redeem the Paradise of God;
The thorns were rooted from the stubborn sod.
In pain and toil, by Thine own blessèd hand.
How was our path to heaven o’er grown with sin-
Bramble, and thistle, and the poisonous weed!
Though hearts should break, and patient feet should bleed,
And strive and struggle, none could walk therein.
And Thou didst call us when we went astray-
Didst make our high road straight for evermore;
And, for our guidance, passèd on before,
Leaving Thy shining footprints in the way.
Still do the wild thorns hedge us round about;
Still grow the thistles from the ancient stock;
Still trails the bramble on the blasted rock-
But we can dig, and Thou wilt pull them out.
Ay, we can work-oh, help us in the strife!
Labour is sweet, for Thou dost share it now.
And we shall eat, in sweat of furrow’d brow,
Not earthly food, but Thine own Bread of Life.
And there are thorns of suffering left behind-
Sorrow and loss-that weigh our courage down;
But, ah! we know Thy sacramental crown
Was made of sin and sorrow, intertwined.
Give us of Thy sweet patience, Lord, we pray.
We would not spurn them with rebellious kicks,
Nor fret and strive, for Thou canst feel the pricks;
We too would wear them as a crown for aye.
We would put on Thy likeness-we, the least
And most unworthy. Ay, each piercing thorn,
In Thy name patiently and meekly worn,
Shall bear a blossom for the bridal feast.
Look down, O Brother with the yearning eyes!
Behold us kneeling at Thy bitter cross!
Grant us a share in all Thine earthly loss,
That we may share Thy gain in Paradise.
O weary Head! we see Thee drooping now
Beneath that diadem of mortal pain:
We see Thee sprinkled with the scarlet stain;-
Drop down the chrism on our polluted brow!
O sacred Head!-pale, beautiful, benign-
On our heads be Thy precious blood, we cry!
Lo, the destroying angel, passing by,
Shall spare to smite us-reverencing the sign.
A few random poems:
- English Poetry. Katharine Tynan. A Woman Commends Her Little Son. Кэтрин Тайнен.
- Business Girls poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
- In A Motel Parking Lot, Thinking Of Dr. Williams by Wendell Berry
- Зинаида Александрова – Баиньки
- Nocturnal Vigils poem – Alfred Austin
- “`Know, Nature, like the cuckoo, laughs at law” poem – Alfred Austin
- Io v’amo sol perche (I Love You Simply Because) by Torquato Tasso
- A Kiss by Thomas Lux
- Владимир Степанов – Рукавицы для лисицы
- Николай Языков – Дева ночи
- My Mother’s Grief
- The Deserted Village by Oliver Goldsmith
- Oblivion by Satish Verma
- Шекспир – Дыханье мысли и огонь желанья – Сонет 45
- The Boston Evening Transcript by T. S. Eliot
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
- I am only the house of your beloved by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- I am only the house of your beloved by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- I am a sculptor, a molder of form by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- How Long by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Ghazal of Rumi by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Ghazal of Rumi by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Ghazal 314 by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Ghazal 119 by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Every day I bear a burden by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Every day I bear a burden by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Did I Not Say To You by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Description of Love by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Confused and Distraught by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Come, Come, Whoever You Are by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Bring Wine by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Book1 Prologue by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Birdsong by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Because I Cannot Sleep by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Be With Those Who Help Your Being by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Be Lost In The Call by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
More external links (open in a new tab):
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
The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works
Ada Cambridge (1844 – 1926), also known as Ada Cross, was an English-born Australian author and poetess. She wrote more than 25 works of fiction, three volumes of poetry and two autobiographical works.