Prayer & Poetry

This is a slightly longer Poetry blog than usual but as the theme is prayer, it seems appropriate as we start Lent.

17 years ago, whilst on a retreat which focussed on the inward and outward journeys, the leader invited us to take time to think about the question: “What is Prayer?” Rather than just make some notes I tried to construct my thoughts in a poetic form, which I titled simply, Prayer is…

PRAYER IS …

“Prayer is the wing wherewith the soul flies to heaven,

and meditation the eye wherewith we see God”

(St Ambrose, Bishop of Milan AD374)

Prayer is.

Talking to God,

Baring your soul,

Telling him everything,

Even though he knows it.

Talking to God

Prayer is.

Listening to God,

Hearing his word,

Understanding what he wants,

Resolving to follow,

Listening to God.

Prayer is.

Reading about God,

Looking at the Scriptures,

Understanding his people through time,

Learning from these people,

Reading about God.

Prayer is.

Contemplating God,

His glory and majesty,

How he acts,

What his purpose is,

Contemplating God

Prayer is.

Petitioning God,

For wholeness in yourself,

For the welfare of others,

For the church and the world,

Petitioning God.

Prayer is.

An expression of Love

A gift to others

A gift of God

A focus on Jesus

An expression of Love

Prayer is.

Praying to the Father,

In the name of the Son,

Under the guidance of the Spirit,

Three in one,

Praying to the Father

Prayer is…

 Roger Verrall 28 February 2004

So, this reminds me of the importance of poetry in our prayer. For me, prayer and poetry are perfect and natural companions. Perhaps it is that rhythmic combination of words and metre, the cadences: which somehow give the words meaning beyond the words, and it is surely a great way of communicating with God.

And poetry is an important part of our Bible.  From the Book of Job which is an epic poem with two short pieces of narrative prose to the Book of Psalms and on to the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in Luke’s Gospel.

Just taking part of one Psalm (62.6,7) enhances that sense of talking to God, which is part of what prayer is about.

For God alone my soul waits in silence,     

    for my hope is from him.  

He alone is my rock and my salvation,      

    my fortress; I shall not be shaken. 

On God rests my deliverance and my honour;      

    my mighty rock, my refuge is in God.

 And prayer has inspired many poets down the ages - George Herbert, John Keble and Christina Rossetti are just three examples.

You cannot fail to be stirred by George Herbert’s simple titled, “Prayer 1”

Prayer the church's banquet, angel's age, 

God's breath in man returning to his birth, 

The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage, 

The Christian plummet sounding heav'n and earth 

Engine against th' Almighty, sinner's tow'r, 

Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear, 

The six-days world transposing in an hour, 

A kind of tune, which all things hear and fear; 

Softness, and peace, and joy, and love, and bliss, 

Exalted manna, gladness of the best, 

Heaven in ordinary, man well drest, 

The milky way, the bird of Paradise, 

Church-bells beyond the stars heard, the soul's blood, 

The land of spices; something understood. 

Or perhaps Christina Rossetti's last verse of "In the Bleak Midwinter":

What can I give Him, poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;

If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;

Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

Or from John Keble’s "Morning Poem", which we know as the hymn "New every morning is the love":

Only, O Lord, in Thy dear love,

Fit us for perfect rest above,

And help us, this and every day,

To live more nearly as we pray.

And then there is of course the Lord’s Prayer itself, which is the ultimate prayer in poetic form, and which simply confirms the perfect harmony between prayer and poetry.

Submitted by Roger Verrall 17^th February, 2021.