Stone Would Be Water
by Samuel Menashe
Stone would be water
But it cannot undo
Its own hardness
Rocks might run
Wild as torrents
Plunged upon the sky
By cliffs none climb
Who makes fountains
Spring from flint
Who dares tell
One thirsting
There’s a well
One of the many appeals to poetry, for me, is in the economy of words. Saying a lot in just a few lines is certainly an art form of highest rank. Here poet Samuel Menashe plumbs the depths of humanity's plight and divinity's provision in twelve or so short lines.
There are certain lines from poems, or whole poems that, in their powerful brevity, become indelible imprints on the heart, the mind, the memory. These lines, a single strand of language, the turn of a phrase, can conjur the most profound reflection or evoke a new understanding. A line from Jame's Wright's A Blessing, blistered me the other day,
"Suddenly i realize
That if i stepped out of my body i would break
into blosssom"
The poetry of the Old Testament Psalter is, in this way, a most formidable shaper of the heart. God owns words and thus, poetry eminates from Him. And God's poetry is not exclusive to the Psalms, but is found throughout the New and Old Testaments. Somehow, in the hour of sweet contemplation, worship and prayer or in the valley of pain and sorrow, God knew we would need an economy of words, a blistering of his revelation, something, even, to sing. "The Lord is My Shepherd, I shall not be in want..." Ps. 23.1
by Samuel Menashe
Stone would be water
But it cannot undo
Its own hardness
Rocks might run
Wild as torrents
Plunged upon the sky
By cliffs none climb
Who makes fountains
Spring from flint
Who dares tell
One thirsting
There’s a well
One of the many appeals to poetry, for me, is in the economy of words. Saying a lot in just a few lines is certainly an art form of highest rank. Here poet Samuel Menashe plumbs the depths of humanity's plight and divinity's provision in twelve or so short lines.
There are certain lines from poems, or whole poems that, in their powerful brevity, become indelible imprints on the heart, the mind, the memory. These lines, a single strand of language, the turn of a phrase, can conjur the most profound reflection or evoke a new understanding. A line from Jame's Wright's A Blessing, blistered me the other day,
"Suddenly i realize
That if i stepped out of my body i would break
into blosssom"
The poetry of the Old Testament Psalter is, in this way, a most formidable shaper of the heart. God owns words and thus, poetry eminates from Him. And God's poetry is not exclusive to the Psalms, but is found throughout the New and Old Testaments. Somehow, in the hour of sweet contemplation, worship and prayer or in the valley of pain and sorrow, God knew we would need an economy of words, a blistering of his revelation, something, even, to sing. "The Lord is My Shepherd, I shall not be in want..." Ps. 23.1
1 comment:
eric,
samuel menashe is the real deal.
insightful words.
danny
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