Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.” (1 Kings 7:12) Though weary and brow-beaten from within And lost in endless self-analysis, Dissecting all the faintest hints of sin And searching out death’s sure catalysis: Though trappedContinue reading “My Ebenezer”
Tag Archives: mental illness
William Cowper – The Waiting Soul
To finish off my month of looking at William Cowper, here is an essay that I have written on his life and work – an attempt to draw together the threads of life that was simultaneously dark and beautiful. I hope you find it a helpful read. William Cowper – The Waiting Soul
Solitude and Grace (After William Cowper’s “The Solitude of Alexander Selkirk”)
One of William Cowper’s more famous poems, “The Solitude of Alexander Selkirk” takes on the perspective of the real-life inspiration for Robinson Crusoe, a buccaneer cast away on an island in the South Pacific for four years. Though much less famous than Defoe’s novel, Cowper’s poem brought English the saying, “The monarch of all I survey”.Continue reading “Solitude and Grace (After William Cowper’s “The Solitude of Alexander Selkirk”)”
Buried Above Ground (After William Cowper’s “Sapphics”)
I suspect that one of the darkest poems in the English language is William Cowper’s “Lines Written During a Period of Insanity”, or, as it is sometimes more tactfully called, “Sapphics”. Written after his first suicide attempt, the poem deals with the idea of eternal condemnation which was one of his greatest fears. In theContinue reading “Buried Above Ground (After William Cowper’s “Sapphics”)”
Quatrain (III)
Without ground beneath feet I am stumbling, Without bearings I’m caught out of place. But to You in this vacuum and rumbling I can turn, for You shape the dark space.
Quatrain
From a day of wandering and buzzing, My thoughts tangled up in their thrall, With vines of coiled hopes faintly budding – Dear God, straighten me; be my all.
Ex-Nihilo
If it is true, then what I see as debris, dross, may be somehow rearranged in You, an altar where Your praises sing and shine, though made of ash. For no-one but You has eyes to see the insides of the dark yet change its composites and make it bright. Only You who spokeContinue reading “Ex-Nihilo”
The Answer
I am between writing projects at the moment, my liturgical poems on hold for a month until the last day in the calendar that I have yet to write about – Ascension Day at the start of May – and being yet to begin my Christian poets project (which you can expect to see meContinue reading “The Answer”
In the Shadow
One of my favourite passages in the Bible is Psalm 91, with its beautiful opening statement that “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most Hight / will rest in the shadow of the Almighty”. Here is a poem that I have written based around that psalm – the next in the series ofContinue reading “In the Shadow”
One Day
This poem isn’t much more than the literary equivalent of doodling. But it is the first night of the school holidays, the eve of Good Friday (and with it the night before a church service which I am contributing some poetry for), and the end of a difficult week emotionally, so I felt in needContinue reading “One Day”
The Consolations of Writing 