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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


PRELUDE by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL

First Line: AMID THE BROKEN WATERS OF OUR EVER-RESTLESS THOUGHT
Last Line: GOD'S GLORY BE ITS OCEAN HOME, THE END IT SEEKETH EVER.
Subject(s): SILENCE; SOLITUDE; LONELINESS;

AMID the broken waters of our ever-restless thought,
Oh be my verse an answering gleam from higher radiance caught;
That where through dark o'erarching boughs of sorrow, doubt, and sin,
The glorious Star of Bethlehem upon the flood looks in,
Its tiny trembling ray may bid some down-cast vision turn
To that enkindling Light, for which all earthly shadows yearn.
Oh be my verse a hidden stream, which silently may flow
Where drooping leaf and thirsty flower in lonely valleys grow;
And often by its shady course to pilgrim hearts be brought
The quiet and refreshment of an upward-pointing thought;
Till, blending with the broad bright stream of sanctified endeavor,
God's glory be its ocean home, the end it seeketh ever.



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