Elmer Karr

Related poetry:

1. Jesus, Thou Divine Companion Jesus, Thou divine Companion, By Thy lowly human birth Thou hast come to join the workers, Burden bearers of the earth. Thou, the Carpenter of Nazareth, Toiling for Thy daily food, By Thy patience and Thy courage, Thou hast taught us toil is good. They who tread the path of labor Follow where Thy feet […]...
2. TO DEATH Thou bidst me come away, And I’ll no longer stay, Than for to shed some tears For faults of former years; And to repent some crimes Done in the present times; And next, to take a bit Of bread, and wine with it; To don my robes of love, Fit for the place above; To […]...
3. Neighbours My neighbour has a field of wheat And I a rood of vine; And he will give me bread to eat, And I will give him wine. And so we are a jolly pair, Contentedly unwed, Singing with supper as we share Red wine and crusty bread. Now venison is mighty meat And so is […]...
4. The Future Give me back my broken night My mirrored room, my secret life It’s lonely here, There’s no one left to torture Give me absolute control Over every living soul And lie beside me, baby, That’s an order! Give me crack and anal sex Take the only tree that’s left And stuff it up the hole […]...
5. Stand-To: Good Friday Morning I’d been on duty from two till four. I went and stared at the dug-out door. Down in the frowst I heard them snore. ‘Stand to!’ Somebody grunted and swore. Dawn was misty; the skies were still; Larks were singing, discordant, shrill; They seemed happy; but I felt ill. Deep in water I splashed my […]...
6. Welcome to the Table This is the feast of heavenly wine, And God invites to sup; The juices of the living Vine Were press’d to fill the cup. Oh! bless the Saviour, ye that eat, With royal dainties fed; Not heaven affords a costlier treat, For Jesus is the bread. The vile, the lost, He calls to them; Ye […]...
7. Coda There’s little in taking or giving, There’s little in water or wine; This living, this living, this living Was never a project of mine. Oh, hard is the struggle, and sparse is The gain of the one at the top, For art is a form of catharsis, And love is a permanent flop, And work […]...
8. Repentance “If you repent,” the Parson said,” Your sins will be forgiven. Aye, even on your dying bed You’re not too late for heaven.” That’s just my cup of tea, I thought, Though for my sins I sorrow; Since salvation is easy bought I will repent. . . to-morrow. To-morrow and to-morrow went, But though my […]...
9. These are the days when Birds come back These are the days when Birds come back A very few a Bird or two To take a backward look. These are the days when skies resume The old old sophistries of June A blue and gold mistake. Oh fraud that cannot cheat the Bee Almost thy plausibility Induces my belief. Till ranks of seeds […]...
10. Litany You are the bread and the knife, The crystal goblet and the wine… – Jacques Crickillon You are the bread and the knife, The crystal goblet and the wine. You are the dew on the morning grass And the burning wheel of the sun. You are the white apron of the baker, And the marsh […]...
11. Church And State Here is fresh matter, poet, Matter for old age meet; Might of the Church and the State, Their mobs put under their feet. O but heart’s wine shall run pure, Mind’s bread grow sweet. That were a cowardly song, Wander in dreams no more; What if the Church and the State Are the mob that […]...
12. Psalm 23 God our shepherd. My Shepherd is the living Lord; Now shall my wants be well supplied; His providence and holy word Become my safety and my guide. In pastures where salvation grows He makes me feed, he makes me rest; There living water gently flows, And all the food’s divinely blest. My wand’ring feet his […]...
13. Verses Turned Across the wet November night The church is bright with candlelight And waiting Evensong. A single bell with plaintive strokes Pleads louder than the stirring oaks The leafless lanes along. It calls the hoirboys from their tea And villagers, the two or three, Damp down the kitchen fire, Let out the cat, and up the […]...
14. Dying! Dying in the night! Dying! Dying in the night! Won’t somebody bring the light So I can see which way to go Into the everlasting snow? And “Jesus”! Where is Jesus gone? They said that Jesus always came Perhaps he doesn’t know the House This way, Jesus, Let him pass! Somebody run to the great gate And see if […]...
15. Exhilaration is within Exhilaration is within There can no Outer Wine So royally intoxicate As that diviner Brand The Soul achieves Herself To drink or set away For Visitor Or Sacrament ‘Tis not of Holiday To stimulate a Man Who hath the Ample Rhine Within his Closet Best you can Exhale in offering....
16. Hymn 49 The works of Moses and the Lamb. Rev. 15:3. How strong thine arm is, mighty God! Who would not fear thy name? Jesus, how sweet thy graces are! Who would not love the Lamb? He has done more than Moses did, Our Prophet and our King; From bonds of hell he freed our souls, And […]...
17. Psalm 132 v.5,13-18 L. M. At the settlement of a church, or the ordination of a minister. Where shall we go to seek and find An habitation for our God, A dwelling for th’ Eternal Mind, Among the sons of flesh and blood? The God of Jacob chose the hill Of Zion for his ancient rest; And […]...
18. 1887 From Clee to heaven the beacon burns, The shires have seen it plain, From north and south the sign returns And beacons burn again. Look left, look right, the hills are bright, The dales are light between, Because ’tis fifty years to-night That God has saved the Queen. Now, when the flame they watch not […]...
19. Hymn 68 The banquet of love. SS 2:1-4,6,7. Behold the Rose of Sharon here, The Lily which the valleys bear; Behold the Tree of Life, that gives Refreshing fruit and healing leaves. Amongst the thorns so lilies shine; Amongst wild gourds the noble vine; So in mine eyes my Savior proves, Amidst a thousand meaner loves. Beneath […]...
20. Edmund Pollard I would I had thrust my hands of flesh Into the disk-flowers bee-infested, Into the mirror-like core of fire Of the light of life, the sun of delight. For what are anthers worth or petals Or halo-rays? Mockeries, shadows Of the heart of the flower, the central flame! All is yours, young passer-by; Enter the […]...
21. Poppies on the Wheat Along Ancona’s hills the shimmering heat, A tropic tide of air with ebb and flow Bathes all the fields of wheat until they glow Like flashing seas of green, which toss and beat Around the vines. The poppies lithe and fleet Seem running, fiery torchmen, to and fro To mark the shore. The farmer does […]...
22. The Host Of The Air O’Driscoll drove with a song The wild duck and the drake From the tall and the tufted reeds Of the drear Hart Lake. And he saw how the reeds grew dark At the coming of night-tide, And dreamed of the long dim hair Of Bridget his bride. He heard while he sang and dreamed A […]...
23. The Mysteries Remain The mysteries remain, I keep the same Cycle of seed-time And of sun and rain; Demeter in the grass, I multiply, Renew and bless Bacchus in the vine; I hold the law, I keep the mysteries true, The first of these To name the living, dead; I am the wine and bread. I keep the […]...
24. Psalm 16 part 1 Confession of our poverty. Preserve me, Lord, in time of need, For succor to thy throne I flee, But have no merits there to plead: My goodness cannot reach to thee. Oft have my heart and tongue confessed How empty and how poor I am; My praise can never make thee blessed, Nor add new […]...
25. The Story Of The Ashes And The Flame No matter why, nor whence, nor when she came, There was her place. No matter what men said, No matter what she was; living or dead, Faithful or not, he loved her all the same. The story was as old as human shame, But ever since that lonely night she fled, With books to blind […]...
26. The White Lady I cannot rest, I cannot rest In straight and shiny wood, My woven hands upon my breast The dead are all so good! The earth is cool across their eyes; They lie there quietly. But I am neither old nor wise; They do not welcome me. Where never I walked alone before, I wander in […]...
27. The New Omar A Book of verses underneath the bough, Provided that the verses do not scan, A loaf of bread, a jug of wine and Thou, Short-haired, all angles, looking like a man. But let the wine be unfermented, Pale, Of chemicals compounded, God knows how This were indeed the Prophet’s Paradise, O Paradise were Wilderness enow....
28. Yee Bow They got me into the Sunday-school In Spoon River And tried to get me to drop Confucius for Jesus. I could have been no worse off If I had tried to get them to drop Jesus for Confucius. For, without any warning, as if it were a prank, And sneaking up behind me, Harry Wiley, […]...
29. Perhaps you think me stooping Perhaps you think me stooping I’m not ashamed of that Christ stooped until He touched the Grave Do those at Sacrament Commemorative Dishonor Or love annealed of love Until it bend as low as Death Redignified, above?...
30. Civilian and Soldier My apparition rose from the fall of lead, Declared, ‘I am a civilian.’ It only served To aggravate your fright. For how could I Have risen, a being of this world, in that hour Of impartial death! And I thought also: nor is Your quarrel of this world. You stood still For both eternities, and […]...
31. My Worthiness is all my Doubt My Worthiness is all my Doubt His Merit all my fear Contrasting which, my quality Do lowlier appear Lest I should insufficient prove For His beloved Need The Chiefest Apprehension Upon my thronging Mind ‘Tis true that Deity to stoop Inherently incline For nothing higher than Itself Itself can rest upon So I the undivine […]...
32. A Child's Prayer For Morn, my dome of blue, For Meadows, green and gay, And Birds who love the twilight of the leaves, Let Jesus keep me joyful when I pray. For the big Bees that hum And hide in bells of flowers; For the winding roads that come To Evening’s holy door, May Jesus bring me grateful […]...
33. 'Twas Love not me ‘Twas Love not me Oh punish pray The Real one died for Thee Just Him not me Such Guilt to love Thee most! Doom it beyond the Rest Forgive it last ‘Twas base as Jesus most! Let Justice not mistake We Two looked so alike Which was the Guilty Sake ‘Twas Love’s Now Strike!...
34. For the Poor When Hagar found the bottle spent And wept o’er Ishmael, A message from the Lord was sent To guide her to a well. Should not Elijah’s cake and cruse Convince us at this day, A gracious God will not refuse Provisions by the way? His saints and servants shall be fed, The promise is secure; […]...
35. Hymn 38 part 1 The atonement of Christ. Rom. 3:25. How is our nature spoiled by sin! Yet nature ne’er hath found The way to make the conscience clean, Or heal the painful wound. In vain we seek for peace with God By methods of our own: Jesus, there’s nothing but thy blood Can bring us near the throne. […]...
36. While it is alive While it is alive Until Death touches it While it and I lap one Air Dwell in one Blood Under one Sacrament Show me Division can split or pare Love is like Life merely longer Love is like Death, during the Grave Love is the Fellow of the Resurrection Scooping up the Dust and chanting […]...
37. A Vindication If heaven loved not the wine, A Wine Star would not be in heaven; If earth loved not the wine, The Wine Spring would not be on the earth. Since heaven and earth love the wine, Need a tippling mortal be ashamed? The transparent wine, I hear, Has the soothing virtue of a sage, While […]...
38. The War Films O living pictures of the dead, O songs without a sound, O fellowship whose phantom tread Hallows a phantom ground How in a gleam have these revealed The faith we had not found. We have sought God in a cloudy Heaven, We have passed by God on earth: His seven sins and his sorrows seven, […]...
39. A Confession To: I At the risk of being customary I wish to make a confession Not that it may be true They do not love that do not show it But because it’s true That to deny it is to argue with reality...
40. Hymn 140 A living and a dead faith. Collected from several scriptures. Mistaken souls, that dream of heav’n, And make their empty boast Of inward joys, and sins forgiv’n, While they are slaves to lust! Vain are our fancies, airy flights, If faith be cold and dead; None but a living power unites To Christ the living […]...