Henry Charles Beeching, ed. (1859–1919). Lyra Sacra: A Book of Religious Verse. 1903.
By Elizabeth Barrett Browning (18091861)Heaven and Earth
GOD, who with thunders and great voices kept | |
Beneath Thy throne, and stars most silver-paced | |
Along the inferior gyres, and open-faced | |
Melodious angels round,—canst intercept | |
Music with music,—yet, at will, has swept | 5 |
All back, all back, (said he in Patmos placed) | |
To fill the heavens with silence of the waste | |
Which lasted half-an-hour! Lo I, who have wept | |
All day and night, beseech Thee by my tears, | |
And by that dread response of curse and groan | 10 |
Men alternate across these hemispheres, | |
Vouchsafe us such a half-hour’s hush alone, | |
In compensation for our stormy years! | |
As heaven has paused from song, let earth from moan. | |