Life and I

This week I'll be sharing some of the beautifully scribed and meaningful poetry that I've been reading this summer from the heart and pen of the 19th century Scottish pastor, Horatius Bonar.

Today's shared poem contains rich metaphors, seven each for Life and the Reader (I). Perhaps one for each day of the week. Each stanza begins with imagery about the fragility or tenuousness of life. Each stanza ends in hope and faith, effusive even to some modern ears. His center of hope finds its repose in God. In succeeding stanza's closing lines, this resting place moves from "My God" to crescendo-ing 

descriptors of God. 

In our time of soundbites and one word sentences, hurried days and ways, Bonar's poetry is an oasis for reflection on what it means to be a Christian in this world. Keep in mind his life in the Scottish landscape,and you will find even richer meaning in his words.

LIFE AND I

Life is the child's frail wreath,

And I a drop of dew

Upon its fading beauty. In the breath

Of the still night-air came I forth to view,

But with the reddening morn

I silently return

To holy realms unseen,

Where death hath never been,

Where He hath his abode,

Who is my God!

Life is the wind-snapp'd bough,

And I a little bird;

My motherland a fairer, calmer clime,

Whose olive-groves no storm has ever stirred;

A little bird that came from far,

Beyond the evening star,

Alighting in my untried flight

Upon this tree of night.

Yet ere another sun

His race shall have begun,

I shall have pass'd from sight,

To realms of truer light,

These twilight skies above,

To be with Him I love,

My God, my God.

Life is the mountain lake,

And I a drifting cloud,

Or a cloud's broken shadow on the wave,

One of the silent multitude that crowd,

With ever-varying pace,

Across the water's face!

Soon must I pass from earth,

To the calm azure of my better birth,

My sky of holy bliss;

"With Him in love and peace,

To have my long abode,

Who is my God!

Life is the tossing ark,

And I the wandering dove,

Resting to-day mid clouds and waters dark,

Tomorrow to my peaceful olive-grove

Returning, in glad haste,

Across time's billowy waste,

For evermore to rest,

Upon the faithful breast,

Of Him who is my King,

My Christ and God!

Life is the changing deep,

And I a little wave,

Rising a moment and then passing down,

Amid my fellows, to a peaceful grave;

For this is not my rest,

It is not here I can he blest.

Far from this sea of strife,

With Christ is hid my life,

With Christ my glorious Lord,

My King and God.

Life is a well-strung lyre,

And I a wandering note,

Struck from its cunning chords, and left alone

A moment in the quivering air to float ;

Then, without echo, die,

And upward from this earthly jarring fly,

To form a truer note above

In the great song of joy and love,

The never-ending, never-jarring song

Of the immortal throng;

Sung to the praise of Him

Who is at once its leader and its theme,

My Christ, my King, my God! 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

LINKS & MUSIC 

Horatio Bonar's Hymn I HEARD THE VOICE OF JESUS SAY from different groups:


Modern Scottish Singer Asher Quinn

Choir of Manchester Cathedral -

Celtic-Modern Style
 
Choir Boy Anthony Wayne

The Antrium Mennonite Choir 


About Bonar's hymnody