23
In the Wheat ~ Songs in your Presence
89
We felt the weight of Your hovering presence
pressing lightly over us like low-slung branches
that hollowed out space to curve down around us
on pillarless suspension
surrounding You, housing You, holding You in,
in ways architects had never conceived
with arches, vaults and traceries.
90
It wasn't a shudder that went through us,
no, a piercing of blades was the bliss we felt
when of a sudden You would come
and be standing right there beside us
like a person.
91
On those rare occasions
when I sat in Your presence
in silent awe and shuddered
wasn't I hearing lines of Bach Variations
which when first heard decades later
brought to vibration the elation
I had known in those young years.
92
We would only have
been reminded
of what we had seen
in the fields
had our eyes
ever feasted
on a painting by Sisley.
For he could never
have taken us out
into a landscape
like You did,
to be pierced
with the beauty
of seeing You
in those fields
showing Yourself to us
fully attired
in Your godly glory.
Next Home
Comment
In the Wheat ~ Songs in your Presence
89
We felt the weight of Your hovering presence
pressing lightly over us like low-slung branches
that hollowed out space to curve down around us
on pillarless suspension
surrounding You, housing You, holding You in,
in ways architects had never conceived
with arches, vaults and traceries.
90
It wasn't a shudder that went through us,
no, a piercing of blades was the bliss we felt
when of a sudden You would come
and be standing right there beside us
like a person.
91
On those rare occasions
when I sat in Your presence
in silent awe and shuddered
wasn't I hearing lines of Bach Variations
which when first heard decades later
brought to vibration the elation
I had known in those young years.
92
We would only have
been reminded
of what we had seen
in the fields
had our eyes
ever feasted
on a painting by Sisley.
For he could never
have taken us out
into a landscape
like You did,
to be pierced
with the beauty
of seeing You
in those fields
showing Yourself to us
fully attired
in Your godly glory.
Next Home
Comment
National Gallery of Art
Washington DC
Washington DC