The Deafened Soul

¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦ our island woods grown dim and blue;
O’er the waters ¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦ the pearl dust of ¦¦¦ eve
Hides the ¦¦¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦ wave rippling through:
The chill for ¦¦¦ warm room let us leave.


Turn the lamp ¦¦¦¦ low ¦¦¦ draw the curtain wide,
So ¦¦¦ greyness of ¦¦¦ starlight bathes the room;
¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ see the ¦¦¦¦¦ face of night outside,
¦¦¦¦¦¦ vague as a moth’s wing ¦¦¦ the gloom.


Rumour of the ¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦ city far away
Breaks ¦¦¦¦ the peace that aureoles ¦¦¦ rest,
Steeped in stillness as ¦¦¦ some primeval day
Hung ¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦ o’er the water’s breast.


¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ eyes that flame and ¦¦¦¦ the heart that burns:
In quiet we ¦¦¦ hear the ¦¦¦ primeval cry:
God gives wisdom ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦¦ that upturns:
Let us adore ¦¦¦¦ you and I.


Age ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ is heaped ¦¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ as we hear:
¦¦¦¦¦¦ hurry to and fro with giant tread
From ¦¦¦ deep unto ¦¦¦ deep: ¦¦¦ do not fear,
For the soul unhearing ¦¦¦¦ is dead.


(Blackout of Prayer by Richard Crashaw)