Tuesday, November 30, 2004

The poem Peter recites to Tom

Curious about the source of the poem Peter recites to Tom in fragments (224), I looked it up online. Titled "Peace," it is by seventeenth century poet Henry Vaughan (1622-1695), and it has often been set to music as a choral hymn. The full text is below:

My soul, there is a country
Far beyond the stars,where stands a winged sentry
All skillful in the wars.
There above noise, and danger,
Sweet Peace sits crowned with smiles,
And One, born in a manger
Commands the beauteous files.

He is thy gracious Friend,
And - O my soul, awake!
-did in pure love descend,to die here for thy sake.
If thou canst get but thither,
There grows the flower of Peace,t
The Rose that cannot wither,
Thy fortress and thy ease.

Leave then thy foolish ranges,
For none can thee secure
But One who never changes,
Thy God, thy life, thy cure.

Henry Vaughan (1622-95)

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