HOSEA CHAPTER 1 - 7

BOOK OF HOSEA

The first of twelve prophets, the writings show
The last of Hebrew texts that come to glow
With the number outright of twelve to know
That You, Beloved, appoint men to reveal
In very action before woe and weal
The good and right, and what men ought to do.
The final Hebrew twelve now come to view.
The first slot must remind of the last one
Who began cycle of the twelve and won,
Ali, to whom the prophet gave his hand
And word that he should rule both folk and land.
Beloved, I sing from the start to the end
Of the twelve, Ishmaels sons came out to bend
In all reality Your grace to lend.

HOSEA 1

1 The word of YHWH the word that came
To Hosea the son of Beeri,
In the days of Uzziah’s fame,
Jotham, Ahaz, not to be weary
And Hezekiah, kings of Judah,
In Jeroboam’s days the son
Of Joash, king of Israel done
Two centuries before the Buddha.

Can any man grasp words so old and made
Centuries before abstract terms were laid
To trouble human vision with the stayed
Instead of glassy waters and the grade
Of oil and grape juice that abides the corn?
Can any man read these words without scorn?
I pray I can, Beloved, since they are found
Within the book of revelation’s sound,
And spoken before kings and in the days
When Your commandments were not in a haze,
But well remembered in the tribe and nation
That stayed near Sinai or in an elation
Went migrant to the isle of Zanzibar,
Or in the other way ten times as far.

2 YHWH began to speak by Hosea,
And so YHWH said then to Hosea,
“Go, take unto yourself a wife
Of harlotry, children for strife
Of harlotry, because the land
Commits uncleanness every hand
Away from YHWH.” 3 And so he went
And took Gomer the daughter sent
Of Diblaim, and she conceived
And bore him a son undeceived.
4 Then YHWH said to him, “Call his name
Jezreel, for soon I shall claim
Vengeance upon the house of Jehu
For bloodshed of Jezreel, he who
Shall bring an end on Israel’s house
Whose kingdom I shall surely dowse.
5 “It shall come to pass in that day
That I will break Israel’s bow’s sway
In the Valley of Jezreel.”
6 And she conceived again as well
Gave birth to a daughter. Then said
Ælohim to him, “Call her head
Lo-Ruhamah, for I’ll have no
More mercy upon Israel’s show,
But utterly take them away.
7 Yet on Judah I still shall show
Mercy, and will save them by YHWH
Their God, and not save them by bow,
Nor by sword or battle renew,
By horses or horsemen to go.”

The prophet fathers on a wife, a whore,
A son and daughter, I’ve heard that before.
There’s hardly man alive whose mind is not
A marriage of the good and the ill-taught,
And that mind brings forth on the modern scene
Among the men called righteous an obscene
Pair of twins male and female on the street.
The boy is named for bloodshed on the feet
Of those who live by the oppression sweet
That banks provide upon the grimy treat
Of poverty turned source of power’s heat.
The girl’s a crone dolled up to look her best
While eating up the east and pluming west.
Beloved, give me no marriage of the mind,
But let no self be known but You. I’m blind.

8 When she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah,
She conceived and, anathema,
Gave birth to a son. 9 Then he said,
“Call his name Lo-Ammi instead,
For you are not My people, and
I will not be at your command.
10 “Yet the number of Israel
Shall be as sand by sea and shell,
Not to be measured, numbered, and
It shall come to pass in the land
Where it was said to them, ‘You’re not
My people,’ There it shall be taught
Them, ‘Sons of living Ælohim.’
11 “Then Judah’s children and the cream
Of Israel shall come together,
And choose one head led without tether,
Come up out of the land, for great
Shall be the day of Jezreel’s fate!”

Let me have no part of a folk who chooses
A head from among evil crowd that loses
The approbation of Your judgement word.
Let me have no part in what has occurred.
The head of state I seek and find and know
Is the one You appointed long ago,
The one hidden behind the battle scenes
To rule the secret of what this world means.
And yet Jezreel swelters in the blood
That covers the earth like a cursèd flood.
Beloved, why do the proper poor still wait
In their oppression for another fate?
Let Your chosen one make some justice here
For those who sit in silence and their fear.

HOSEA 2

1 Say to your brothers, “My people,”
And to your sisters “Mercy’s full.”
2 Bring charges against your mother,
Bring charges, she’s not My wife, her
Husband I’ll not be! Let her put
Her uncleanness away from foot,
Adulteries between her breasts,
3 Lest I strip her despite protests
Naked and expose her, as in
The day that she was born therein,
And make her like a wilderness,
And set her like a dry land’s fess,
And slay her with thirst. 4 But I’ll not
Have mercy on her children’s lot,
For they are children of uncleanness.
5 For their mother has, in her meanness,
Played the harlot, she who conceived
Them has shamefully unreprieved
Behaved, for she said, “I will go
After my lovers, who with show
Give me my bread, my water, my
Wool, linen, oil, my drink and dry.”

You are, Beloved, the goal of all desire.
It’s harlotry to turn from You to fire
Of any other passion: read my fate
In my desire to have no other mate.
In eye of every passer-by I see
The glimmer of Your divine symmetry.
Let me see no other but You in face
Of every being in this haunted place.
Let me not look for bread or water sure
In any but Your springs of water pure
And in Your baking ovens filled with bread.
Let no charge be brought against my fair head.
Beloved, I look to neither right nor left,
Nor seek to escape from Your rocky cleft.

6 “Therefore, indeed, I will hedge up
Your way with thorns, and wall her up,
So that she cannot find her paths.
7 “She will chase her lovers and baths,
Not overtake them, though she seek
Them, but not find. Then she will squeak,
‘I will go and return to my
First husband, it was a far cry
And better then for me than now.’
8 “For she did not know anyhow
That I gave her grain, new grape juice,
And oil, and multiplied for use
Her silver and her gold, which they
Prepared for worship in Baal’s way.
9 “Therefore I will return and take
Away My grain in its time’s wake
And My new grape juice in its season,
And will take back My wool with reason
My linen for her nudity.
10 “Now I will uncover her lewdness
In the sight of her lovers’ shrewdness,
And no one shall deliver her
From My hand and what will occur.
11 “I will also cause all her mirth
To cease, her feasts from off the earth,
Her first days of the months, and all
Her Sabbaths, appointed feasts’ call.
12 “And I will destroy her vines and
Her fig trees from upon her land,
Of which she has said, ‘These are my
Wages that my lovers give and buy.’
So I will make them a forest,
And the beasts of the field shall rest
And eat them. 13 I will punish her
For days of Baals to which aver
She burned incense. She decked her out
With her earrings and jewellery stout,
And went after her lovers, but
Me” answers YHWH, “she has forgot.”

Though rain seem to come from the sun on cloud
And taken from the ocean’s cloak and shroud,
Distilled upon the fields and hills by means
That appear natural and follow scenes
Of regularity on lake and sea,
I know my draught of drink eternally
Comes from Your hand, Beloved, I see the fee.
Through bread comes from the earth on stalk of grain
Well chosen for its size and value’s gain,
And ground by human hand and set to bake
Within the ovens for the seller’s sake,
I know my crumb comes ever from Your hand,
Beloved, and nothing grows upon the land
But from your heartbeat and Your eye full scanned.

14 “Therefore, indeed, I will allure her,
Will bring into the wilderness,
And speak comfort and to assure her.
15 “I’ll give her her vineyards from there,
And the Valley of Achor where
She has a door of hope, she’ll sing
There as in days when she took wing,
As in the day when she came out
From the land of Egypt with shout.
16 “And it shall be, in that day,” says
YHWH, “That you’ll call Me (wearing fez)
‘My Husband,’ And no longer just
‘My Master,’ with head in the dust.
17 “For I’ll take from her mouth the names
Of the Baals, and names of such shames
On them shall be no more remembered.
18 In that day I will make a membered
Pact for them with the beasts of field,
With birds of air, and with concealed
The creeping things upon the ground.
Both bow and battle sword I’m bound
I’ll shatter from the earth to make
Them lie down safely. 19 “I will take
You betrothed to Me always, yes,
I’ll betroth you to My caress
In righteousness and justice, in
Loving-kindness and genuine
Mercy, 20 I’ll betroth you to Me
In faithfulness, and faithfully
You shall know YHWH. 21 “And it shall be
That day I will answer,” says YHWH,
“I will answer the heavens, and they
Shall answer the earth in their way.
22 “The earth shall answer then with grain,
With new grape juice, with oil amain,
They shall answer Jezreel in gain.
23 “Then I will sow her for My own
In the earth, and I will have mercy
On her who had not obtained mercy,
Then I will say to those who were
Not My people nor to prefer,
‘You are My people!’ And they’ll say
‘You are my God both night and day!’”

More than my Master my Beloved You are
Though every day my feet may wander far
From knowing that Your presence lies with me.
You are by me whether or not I see.
Let no names of false gods come on my tongue,
Not self nor silver, nor the tempting rung
Ambition lays before the youngest son.
I walk and sleep, I may awake and run,
But You are always there as sure as I
Know my own self beneath the by and by.
You are, Beloved, my God both night and day
As I go stumbling on the nether way
Beneath the vineyard shades by door of hope,
I run and wheel, or then I stop and grope.

HOSEA 3

1 Then YHWH said to me, “Go again,
To love a woman who is vain,
Loved by one in adultery,
Just like the love of YHWH for those
Children of Israel, who chose
To look to other gods and love
The raisin cakes of pagan shove.”
2 So I bought her for myself for
Fifteen of silver, what is more,
One and one-half measures of grain
Of barley, 3 and told her again,
“You shall stay with me many days,
You’ll not go in adulterous ways,
Nor shall you have a man. So too
Will I surely be toward you.”
4 For the children of Israel shall
Abide for days like prodigal
Without king or prince, sacrifice
Or sacred pillar to entice,
Without ephod or teraphim.
5 Afterward Israel’s folk grown dim
Shall turn and seek YHWH their God and
David their king, and understand
To fear YHWH and His goodness till
The latter days come to fulfil.

I had a classmate once who chose
To frequent prostitutes and those
Became his friends and at last he
Married one of those girls of glee,
And as it turned out passing years
Saw more in joy than bitter tears.
One never knows who will become
The best of people, so in sum,
It’s no use judging one and all
By prejudices from the fall.
I only state here with loud voice
The witness preachers give of choice
Salvation from devious dames,
Drink and drugs moves me to shames’ blames.

In times to come, I hope and I believe
That this old world shall come to have reprieve,
And Israel will seek after You alone
And after David the king on the throne
In resurrection for ever and aye
Beneath eternal and untroubled sky.
I worship You alone, Beloved, and take
For King alone David and for Your sake.
I wonder that the many prophecies
That speak of David’s return on the breeze
Are ignored by both Jew and Muslim and
By Christian in a sordid sort of band.
If I alone remember Your anointed,
I shall still come before divine appointed.

HOSEA 4

1 Hear the word of YHWH, You children
Of Israel, YHWH brings commission
Against the dwellers in the land:
“There is no truth or mercy grand,
Ælohim’s knowledge in the land.
2 “By swearing, lying, killing and
Stealing, committing adultery,
They break all restraint and go free
With bloodshed upon bloodshed call.
3 “Therefore the land will mourn, and all
Who dwell therein will waste away
With the beasts of the field and prey
And the birds of the air, the fish
Of the sea disappear with swish.
4 “Now let no man contend, rebuke
Another, for your people spook
Like those who contend with the priest.
5 “Therefore you shall stumble at least
In the day, the prophet shall stumble
Also with you at night and grumble,
And I will make your mother humble.

Destruction of the earth is evident
Result of unrestraint upon those meant
To guard and keep the ground well from the start.
Destruction of the earth begins with heart
That thinks to lie and kill is a small thing
And stealing and adultery will bring
But wealth and pleasure to the bold man’s ring.
But such do not stop there, they have in mind
The right to rape the earth as well in kind
Until the beast of field without a home
Mourns with the land and bird and fish to comb
The earth and sea for tranquil place and fair
Where no poisons pollute water and air.
Beloved, I turn and find that You’re still there.

The word of prophecy that prophets come
To stumble on the land and law in sum
Does not I trow refer to those men but
To those who claim to follow them in glut.
Both fair Muhammad and Jesus the humble
Remained in faith, nor did either one stumble,
But kept Your Decalogue through stick and sin.
Their followers put on a different grin,
And claim they gave permission to go out
And work and play on Sabbath with a shout.
In followers alone the prophets fail,
Not in their own hands set to spade and pail.
But though both Jesus and Muhammad fall,
I shall remain true to You and Your call.

6 “My people are destroyed for lack
Of knowledge, because you are slack
To accept knowledge, I’ll also
Be slack to accept you to go
As priest for Me, and because you
Forget your God’s law, so I do
Forget your children. 7 “And the more
They increased, also sinned the more
Against Me, I’ll change their
Glory to shame. 8 “They eat in air
The sin of My people, they set
Their heart on their iniquity.
9 “Like people, like priest it shall be.
So I will punish them, you bet,
For their ways, and reward them for
Their deeds. 10 “For they shall eat the more,
But not be filled, they shall commit
Their harlotry, but not be fit
To beget or conceive because
They’ve stopped obeying their YHWH’s laws.
11 “Harlotry, wine, and new grape juice
Enslave the heart for their abuse.

The Rabbis contend all the world should well
Obey the Noahide laws Israel
Has determined are great for one and all.
That’s because lack of knowledge hit the wall
And they forgot the ten commandments are
Your law for all and not just for the star.
And so You reject them as priestly race
To all the world until they come to face
Their role is to preserve the law, not to
Invent rabbinical statutes in crew.
They would steal from the world the Sabbath rest
That belongs to the beast and all confessed
Created with rights not to take away:
They would deprive of justice in one day.

12 “My people ask counsel from their
Wood, and their staff informs the air,
A shameful idol, for the spirit
Of harlotry’s caused to stray near it,
And they’ve played the harlot against
Their God. 13 “They offer on the fenced
Mountaintops sacrifices, burn
Incense upon the hills, beneath
Oaks, poplars, terebinths in sheath,
Because their shade is good. Therefore
Your daughters commit harlotry,
Your brides adultery and more.
14 “I’ll not punish your daughters when
They commit harlotry with men,
Nor your brides for adultery,
For the men themselves go out free
With harlots, offer sacrifice
With a ritual harlot’s vice.
Therefore who do not understand
Will be trampled upon the land.

Is this Your way of dealing with men now,
Beloved? I think it shows a lack somehow.
You hold folk guilty only when they do
A sin that’s rare among the motley crew.
But when the thing is rampant, then you say
There is no wrong since all men act that way.
That’s the excuse I hear from childish lips
That say because the neighbour boy too sips
The liquor it cannot be wrong for me.
Your prophet’s words foster eternally
The excuse of the damned that the whole sea
Of hell is sure of virtue’s trinity
In seeking love in their adultery.
Beloved, let me turn from such heathen rips.

15 Though you, Israel, play the harlot,
Let not Judah offend and plot.
Do not come up to Gilgal, nor
Go up to Beth Aven, what’s more,
Nor swear an oath, “And as YHWH lives”
16 For Israel is as stubborn gives,
Like headstrong calf, now YHWH will let
Them forage like a lamb and set
In open country. 17 Ephraim’s joined
To idols, let him be purloined.
18 Their drink is their rebellion, they
Commit harlotry every day.
Her rulers dearly love dishonour.
19 The wind has brashly blown upon her,
And they shall greatly be ashamed
For sacrifices that they named.

Let every Christian and establishment
Of Christian faith listen and now relent.
Shame, shame for taking sacrifice of man
Upon a wooden stake for righteous ban!
The prophecy is that they shall have shame
For sacrifices that should have no name
Among mankind, and yet the rebel call
Is still sounded in every churchly hall
That human sacrifice relieves of guilt,
No matter what a man has done or spilt.
Shame, shame upon such ghastly word and aim!
Repentance only can find release from
Guilt, and Your grace alone the lofty claim,
Though every thief must give back stolen sum.

HOSEA 5

1 “Hear this, O priests! Take heed, O house
Of Israel! Give ear like grouse,
O house of the king! For judgement
Is yours and is upon you sent
Since you to Mizpeh were a snare
And on Tabor a net spread there.
2 “Revolters are deeply involved
In slaughter, though I’ve not absolved.
3 “I know Ephraim, and Israel’s not
Hidden from Me, for now the plot,
O Ephraim, is you commit wild
Harlotry, and Israel’s defiled.
4 They don’t direct their deeds toward
Turning to their God, but to sword,
For the spirit of harlotry
Is in their midst abundantly,
And they do not know YHWH at all.
5 The pride of Israel in his fall
Testifies to his face, therefore
Israel and Ephraim stumble more
In their iniquity, Judah
Also stumbles with them at law.
6 With their flocks and herds they shall go
To seek YHWH, but they’ll be slow
And not find Him, He has withdrawn
Himself from them and from their spawn.
7 They have dealt treacherously with YHWH,
For they’ve begotten heathen crew.
Now a new one shall eat them up,
Their heritage, both plate and cup.

The lovely and the true of long ago
Were priests that did their work to beat the show.
The very priests of Israel and the chosen
Were instrumental in the cold and frozen.
They led the people to idolatry
And taught them to pray to the Trinity
Of El and Ashtoreth and Baal and claimed
It was the civilized way and unblamed.
If it was so that those You chose Yourself
Behaved like craven robbers and like elf,
Then what of the priests in the church today
Who lead the people everywhere astray?
Not one in one thousand is fit to feed
Upon Your word, Beloved, with heathen creed.

8 “Blow the ram’s horn in Gibeah,
The trumpet also in Ramah!
Cry loud at Beth Aven, ‘Behind
You, Benjamin!’ 9 “Ephraim shall be
Desolate in day of rebuke,
Among Israel’s tribes as a fluke
I make known what is sure as duke.
10 “The princes of Judah are like
Those who remove a landmark spike,
I will pour out my wrath on them
Like water, let them haw and hem.
11 “Ephraim is oppressed and broken
In judgment, since he had a yen
To walk by human precept then.
12 “Therefore I will to Ephraim
Be like a moth, and to the prim
House of Judah like rottenness.
13 “When Ephraim saw his sickness,
And Judah saw his wound’s undress,
Ephraim turned to Assyria
And sent to King Jareb in awe,
Yet he cannot cure you, nor heal
You of your wound and how you feel.
14 “For I will be like lion to
Ephraim, and like young lions to
The house of Judah. I, just I,
Will tear them and go passing by,
I will take them away, and no
One shall rescue them from my go.
15 “I will return again to My
Place till they confess their offence.
Then they will seek My face foreby,
In their affliction they’ll have sense
Earnestly to seek recompense.”

If You tore Israel from her promised shelf
In ancient times and came down there Yourself
To see the evil they had done, I guess
No others can stand just at Your address.
These were the cream of humankind who lay
Their foreheads down in idol harlot’s way.
The best of all were never good enough:
They added to Your law civilized scuff,
Pretending that the scientific creed
Was just an explanation in the need
Of those who were above the desert law
Good only for the primitive in claw.
They thought the slaves from Egypt needed such,
While the sophisticated had their touch.

HOSEA 6

1 Come, and let us return to YHWH,
For He has torn, but He will do
Us healing, He has stricken, but
He will bind us up, our wounds shut.
2 After two days He will revive
Us, on third day He’ll make alive,
That we may thus live in His sight.
3 Let’s know, let’s pursue knowledge of
YHWH, His going forth is in love
Established as the morning main,
He will come to us like the rain,
Like late and early rain to earth
To heal the dry and parching dearth.

Indeed You are ready to health the torn
As soon as they repent from the hell-born.
You even cast a gracious eye upon
The white-clad Celt and Indian at the dawn.
Beloved, each day it seems that I return
Rekindling fires of love that cease to burn
At the cold dawn before the pearly sky
Is lit with fires of day awakened by.
The third day is the resurrection nigh
After the mid-week turning to the wry
Where all the stars rejoice to see You fly.
Beloved, the morning comes with gentle rain
To heal the burdened heart and spirit’s pain.
The whirling stops at last, but You remain.

4 “Ephraim, what shall I do to you?
Judah, what shall I do to you?
Your faithfulness like morning cloud,
And like the early dew in shroud
It goes away. 5 “Therefore I’ve hewn
Them by the prophets, I have soon
Slain them by the words of My mouth,
And your judgments, light from the south.
6 “For I desire mercy and not
Sacrifice, and the knowledge taught
Of Ælohim more than burnt offerings.
7 “But like men they transgressed in profferings
Against the covenant, there they
Dealt treacherously in the way
With Me. 8 “Gilead is a town
Of evildoers, and made brown
Defiled with blood. 9 “As bands of thieves
Lie in wait for a man that grieves,
So the band of priests murder on
The way to Shechem, and at dawn
Surely they commit lewdness drawn.
10 “I have seen a horrible thing
In the house of Israel’s king:
There was Ephraim’s harlotry,
Israel defiled by every tree.
11 “Also, O Judah, harvest’s set
Against you, when I turn to get
The captives of My people yet.”

My faithfulness goes not like morning mist
After a day and night within the list
Of just and righteous men. No, I have kissed
My breath with fire and felt the cold renew
As soon as I breathed out. There is no dew.
The faithfulness of Ephraim’s for a day,
But I, Beloved, am only breath away
From turning to the death instead of life.
My faithlessness arises without strife.
Though Ephraim’s steadfast through the day and night,
I falter with each exhalation’s blight.
And yet, Beloved, You breathe again in me
The breath of faith each time I draw it free.
From breath to breath I enter faithlessness
And at the same time turn to Your address
And find You never weary at the guess.

HOSEA 7

1 “When I would have healed Israel,
Then Ephraim’s wickedness as well
Was uncovered, the wickedness
Samaria essayed to transgress
In fraud, a thief has entered in,
A band of thieves take spoil in sin.
2 “They do not take the thing to heart
That I remember all their part
In wickedness, now their own deeds
Have surrounded them in their weeds,
They are before My face for creeds.
3 “They make a king glad with their sin
And princes with their lies and din.
4 “They’re all adulterers, like an
Oven heated by baker man
He ceases stirring fire when done
Kneading the dough under the sun,
Until it is leavened to last.”
5 In the day of our king not past
Princes have made him sick, inflamed
With wine, he stretched out hand unshamed
With scoffers. 6 They prepare their heart
Like an oven, they lie in wait,
Their baker sleeps all night to start,
At dawn it burns like flames in grate.
7 “They are all hot, like oven hot,
And have devoured their judges’ pot,
All their kings fell, none of them calls
Upon Me and My saving walls.”

Though I am really not much for the pleasure
Adulterers find with the loins’ heart treasure,
Nor do I find the taste of wine a treat
To give me courage on the weekend beat,
Two out of three’s enough, I’d think for me,
So why should I not join in thievery?
A band of thieves might just be what I need,
Since that is the way squirrels today are treed.
A band of thieves runs every company
And every government by usury
And fast corruption seduces the best.
I too had top grades along with the rest,
I’m eminently corruptible guy,
But others get the cream. I sit and sigh.

8 “Ephraim has mixed himself among
The peoples, Ephraim’s cake of dung.
9 “The aliens have devoured his strength,
But he does not know it at length,
Yes, grey hairs are here and there on
Him, yet he does not know what’s gone.
10 “The pride of Israel testifies
Unto his face, but in their lies
They don’t return to YHWH their God,
Nor seek Him for all this as prod.
11 “Ephraim also is like a dove,
Silly and without sense or love,
They call to Egypt, and they go
To Assyria to make a show.
12 “Wherever they go, I will spread
My net on them, and as I’ve said
I’ll bring them down like birds in air,
I’ll chastise them and by what their
Congregation has heard to be.
13 “Woe to them, for they’ve fled from Me!
Destruction to them, since they have
Transgressed against Me! Though I have
Redeemed them, yet they’ve spoken lies
Against Me. 14 “They did not raise cries
Out to Me with their heart when they
Wailed there upon their beds to pray.
They come together for the grain
And the new grape juice, then insane
They rebel against Me, 15 “Though I
Disciplined and strengthened their arms,
Yet they devise evil foreby
Against Me, 16 “They return from harms,
But not to the Most High, they are
Like a treacherous bow afar.
Their princes shall fall by the sword
For cursings of their tongue’s afford.
This shall be their derision in
The land of Egypt for their sin.”

Whether the death of Christ’s redemption or
Mere tragedy upon the Roman shore,
I leave to You to guess, but all the more,
Those who believe such ought to take in store
The message of this verse that here reveals
How after such redemption at the heels
The people still speak lies about Your wheels.
Because of that redemption they believe
That You are three in one on Christmas Eve.
That witness to Your number imprecise
And inconsistent with everything nice
Remains a lie and stain upon the church
As well as every Christian sort of perch.
No wonder such folk leave me in the lurch.

Beloved, like Ephraim I flee from You
In fear, in greed of my illusions view,
In hope of honour and the gain in pew.
Beloved, like Ephraim I flee Your nest
To follow paths in actions I think best,
The structure of the human mind in quest
My guide instead of Your word to be true.
Beloved, I flee from Your face till I find
In my flight refuge from the flaming rind.
I flee along the corridors of time
And hide myself in meters and in rhyme,
Look back over my shoulder in my flight
And run blind in Your bosom of delight
Before I know to swerve away in night.

AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

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