Significant Stuttering About the Inexpressible Lent Day 11

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.

 

Just read it....slowly....several times...until something is understood.

 

For those who want more, some years ago I wrote an article devoted entirely to this sonnet. It is open access and can be found here. 

 

 

Comments

[Angela Almond]

I've listened to Mark Tully's "Something Understood" on Radio 4 for years, and I'm ashamed to admit that I never knew this was the source of the title!