The Tide Of Faith

So faith is strong

Only when we are strong, shrinks when we shrink.

It comes when music stirs us, and the chords,

Moving on some grand climax, shakes our souls

With influx new that makes new energies.

It comes in swellings of the heart and tears

That rise at noble and at gentle deeds.

It comes in moments of heroic love,

Unjealous joy in joy not made for us;

In conscious triumph of the good within,

Making us worship goodness that rebukes.

Even our failures are a prophecy,

Even our yearnings and our bitter tears

After that fair and true we cannot grasp.

Presentiment of better things on earth

Sweeps in with every force that stirs our souls

To admiration, self-renouncing love.

~ George Eliot ~

I Would Not Always Reason

I would not always reason. The straight path

Wearies us with never-varying lines,

And we grow melancholy. I would make

Reason my guide, but she should sometimes sit

Patiently by the wayside, while I trace

The mazes of pleasant wilderness

Around me. She should be my counselor,

But not my tyrant. For the spirit needs

Impulses from a deeper source than hers;

And there are notions, in the mind of man,

That she must look upon with awe.

~ William Cullen Bryant ~

Moderation

This ancient poem speaks of the danger of excessive ambition.

Not in every generation do virtues long-descended

Breed men of might.

Not always do the black fields bounteously

Give harvest; not with every summer ended

Like wealth will load the fragrant blossomed tree;

But with changeful alteration. So too for humanity

Fate stands. What God's disposal shall ordain us,

Not token tells. And yet we launch out evermore

On perilous quests----our wanton hopes enchain us----

The tides of foresight lie beyond our lore.

Keep measure in ambition. Sharp the pain

Of mad hearts craving what no hand shall gain.

~ Pindar Of Thebes ~

The midi playing on this page, entitled "Spring Rain" is being used with permission

and is a copyright 2000 by Bruce DeBoer.

Copyright February 2001