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Category: poetry

Verses Upon the Immersion of a Penitent Sinner

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Praise to the Father, and praise to the Son!
What wonderful things we behold!
A wandering soul has returned to its God,
Deciding to leave that great path which is broad:
See the new life that’s begun!

No longer to wander in darkness and sin,
You know that this Jesus is Christ.
Your physical body is buried and raised,
The spiritual body is left in the grave,
A new one is now lifted up.

Joy now pervades me; it seems I can hear
The rejoicing of heavenly ones.
What wondrous salvation our Jesus provides!
He’ll keep you in safety from terrible tides;
He’s faithful if you will stay near.

I’m praying for you as you live this new life;
I know you will struggle and fight.
The race is not easy, but Christ helps us through,
As long as you seek Him, He always is new.
Stay close through the trouble and strife!

In happy times, too, you must always keep guard,
Give God all the glory for bliss.
It’s He who has given you strength for the day,
Give Him all the credit, don’t throw it away.
The easy can prove to be hard.

Whatever you do as you walk this new road,
I hope you remember one thing:
Don’t keep to yourself the wonderful news,
Take every chance to tell others these truths!
The Lord will increase what you sowed.

God only knows if I’ll see you again;
Most likely I won’t in this life.
But I know for a fact that I’ll see you at home,
In that place where our weary feet never will roam:
Be faithful and true until then!

Enwrapped in Blissful Ignorance

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Or, Thoughts Upon Seeing a Certain Billboard in the Middle of a Cow Pasture

The cattle live a happy life:
A life of bliss, and not of strife.
Their days are full of cud and grass,
And blissfully their moments pass.

Connoisseurs of finest weeds,
They all discern the tasty seeds.
Bereft of sadness, gloom, and grief,
The milk cow eats another leaf.

Thrice happy they, who live in fields,
Who worry not o’er loss and yields.
Oh! such a blissful life is fine—
They’re standing by an Arby’s sign.

Be Thou My Vision

Mashkioya Leave a comment

Here in Tennessee I have been learning a great many songs that I’ve never heard before, and I would like to share one of them with you.  This particular song is actually Irish, and both the music and the words are very lovely.  I hope to introduce this one to my home congregation someday (providing that it is in our songbooks).  Here are the lyrics:

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

Musical Adventures

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As you may or may not be aware, I have begun my time in college as a part of the University Chorale. I am still getting used to the rigidity of choral singing, but I am having a blast and I look forward to the day when it becomes old hat and I don’t have to focus on the mechanics of it all.

Today we started learning a piece that is very unique, to say the least. It’s called “Water Night,” and it is a loose translation of Octavio Paz’s poem “Agua Nocturna” set to music. In case you haven’t read Octavio Paz, he wrote some pretty vague stuff, and Eric Whitacre (the composer) is a “20th Century” composer, as our choral director put it. So the product of these two singular people is this song, which will be quite difficult from what I judge (perhaps more for some parts than others).

The harmony (or shall I say, dissonance?) of the piece is really odd, and jarring to the ears in certain places. One chord is made up of 14 adjacent notes, and were it not for all the pretty voices, my consonance-loving ears might just rebel.

So this is my most recent adventure. The song is not particularly horrible-sounding like some “modern” music, but it will be challenging. Fortunately iTunes had a recording for download, so I got that to listen to to help me along.

The Shamrock Soil No More

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I am now situated at college in Tennessee, and my classes began today. I am very excited about the things I’ll be able to study and participate in, but all the same, my thoughts turned to my native land when I was listening to this song today. Not that I will never again see Texas, but it will be a while and I shall miss it greatly.

Oh while I live I’ll never forget the troubles of that day
When bound into a foreign land our ship got underway
my friends I left in Belfast town, my love in Carrickshore
and I gave to poor old Ireland my blessings o’er and o’er.

Oh well I knew as off to sail what my hard fate would be
for gazing on my country’s hills they seemed to fly from me
I watched them as we sailed away until my eyes grew sore.
And I felt that I was doomed to walk the Shamrock soil no more.

Oh where, oh where’s that careless heart I once could call my own?
It bid a long farewell to me the day I left Tyrone.
I wonder will I return again to my love, my dearest friends.
No pleasure my old absent home can bring to me again.

This song is found on the album Norland Wind by Thomas Loefke. Kerstin Blodig sings on this particular track.