Psalm 22

I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you. Psalm xxii. 22.

A song o’erflows my heart today
In echo of another,
A measure of the heav’nly lay
Began by Christ my brother.
I could not still it if I tried,
So forcefully ‘tis ringing;
His glory with I e’er abide—
How can I keep from singing?

What though I here below may seem
By God, by God forsaken,
Thy praise-ringed throne I fairer deem
Than any trinket taken.
Our fathers trusted in your love,
Their cares upon you flinging;
You rescued them, and now above
You ever keep their singing.

(1 Pet 5:7)

Though I occasion heaping scorn,
A worm despised, rejected,
Encompassed round by foes, forlorn,
Abused, and unprotected,
Yet thou hast held me since the day
I to the breast was clinging,
And still my hope on thee I stay—
I will not keep from singing!

You neither hide from nor abhor
The cause of the afflicted,
But bid me cry thy throne before
With access unrestricted,
Till with the mighty, sainted throng,
As offertory bringing,
I can the Savior’s triumph song
Lift unto thee with singing.

The furthest ends of earth shall come,
Salvation’s ballad raising,
To join the saints already home
Engaged in happy praising,
And distant generations shall
Thee know in their upbringing
And sing, “Thou hast accomplished all;
How can I keep from singing?”

—3/14/26. From Psalm 22. To “Sicilia” (“How can I keep from singing?”)

Resurrection Triumph

…he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit… Rom. viii. 11.

Hail, O resurrection morning!
When the Lord his saints recalls,
Mold’ring tents with life adorning
Till they stand, Jerus’lem’s walls;
Now they sleep, but future borning
Never fades and never falls.

(1 Thess 4:16-17; 2 Cor 5:1-2; Rev 21:2;
1 Thess 4:13-15; Isa 26:19)

If within us dwells his Spirit,
Then the death of Christ we share,
His our righteousness and merit,
His our life and peace fore’er,
And when we the earth inherit,
His the body we have there.

(Rom 6:3-4; 8:10-11)

What is dead must keep on dying
For undyingness to grow,
Till, in death’s dishonor lying,
Corpse at last in earth we sow,
Only boast left for our crying
Then, that we Jehovah know.

(1 Cor 15:50, 35-37; 1:30-31; Jer 9:24)

All thy prophets looked with longing
For thy fullness to appear,
And thy church, in patience thronging,
Waits thy second advent here,
When, with life eternal dawning,
Thou shalt dwell thy people near.

(Dan 12:1-3; Isa 26:19; Job 19:25-26;
Jam 5:7-8; Prov 4:18; Rev 20:4-6; 21:3)

Expiating our transgression,
Thou didst taste the altar’s knife
And, imputing thy perfection,
Reconciled our ev’ry strife;
Consummate O now election—
Raise our mortal flesh to life!

(2 Cor 5:21; Rom 5:10-11; 8:30, 23)

—3/10/26. To “Regent Square” (“Angels from the realms of glory”).

Meditations: February 2026

Though I inherit the wilderness,
The Lord makes streams in the desert.
He makes the desert a garden
The garden a forest.
Surely my inheritance is beautiful.

(Isa 35:6; 32:15; Ps 16:6)

The work of earth fits us for heaven.
Does the rest of heaven fit us for a glorified earth?

Fear not, O seed, to perish in the spring.

(1 Cor 15:36)

Not so many meditations this month. Part of it is that these meditations are a scratchpad (commonplace book?) for ideas that may or may not be employed in more structured poetry, and contra normal MO, I have far more than one poem cooking at the moment. Almost overwhelmingly so. So a lot of my contemplative activity is not curbed so much as delayed.

Additionally, while school and family emergency have taken much of time for creative contemplation, they have not taken my meditation. Chronicles from my daily reading is full of the steadfast love and faithfulness of the Lord, and after that finished up, Job 33:27 has much occupied my thoughts these last couple weeks: “I sinned and perverted what was right, and it was not repaid to me!” What incredible joy—Elihu says it is properly a song—to be thus forgiven by such a wonderful God.

On Sowing

Fear not, O seed, to perish in the spring;
The pretty fields will only bloom awhile;
What though the earth doth greenest, gayest smile,
Its pleasures no true joy nor lasting bring.
Awinter thou wast safe in silo kept
From trial’s frost, unto this sowing hour,
But never barn could nourish what must flow’r,
However warmly there thy kernel slept.
But when at last in soil thou art lain,
Thou shalt see beatific, summer sun
And sprouting shoot rise up in thee again
As yet more perfect life be then begun,
Until in ripened plenitude of grain
Thy resurrection-harvest’s fully done.

—2/24/26

Superlative Grace

God is greater than our heart. 1 John iii. 20.

Redder than my blushing shame
Is the blood that penned my name
In thy book of life, O Lamb.

(Rev 21:27)

Cleaner than my filthy dress
Is the Fuller’s righteousness,
Washing all who guilt confess.

(Mal 3:2)

Whiter than my leprous hands
Is thy cov’ring grace, that stands
In great drifts o’er sin-smirched lands.

(Ex 4:6; Isa 1:18)

Sweeter than my graverot stench
Are thy prayers my guilt to quench—
Incense ere the mercy-bench.

(Heb 7:25; Rev 5:8)

Higher than my heaping sin
Stands the cross where thou wast giv’n;
‘Tis the ladder up to heav’n.

(Rev 18:5; John 1:51)

Further than the end of days
Runs the promise that we praise:
We shall serve our God always.

(Luke 1:74-75)

Long and high and deep and broad
Is the matchless love of God;
Unto thee be endless laud!

(Eph 3:18-19)

—Insomnia III. To “Holy Ghost” (Crüger) or “Man of Sorrows, What a Name.” 1/30/26.

Meditations: January 2026

When Jesus slept in the stern,
Slumbering as the wind and waves rose,
Unwaking as water filled the boat,
Was it because he discerned his father’s footsteps in the storm?
Was he pondering his work
And dreaming of his mighty deeds?
“When the waters saw you, my Father,
When the waters saw you they were afraid
And the deeps trembled.
The clouds poured out water—
The skies gave forth thunder—
Your arrows flashed on every side—
The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind—
Your lightnings lighted up the world—
The earth trembled and shook.
Your way was through the sea,
Your path through the great waters,
Yet your footprints were unseen:
You led your people like a flock
By the hand of the Son of Man.”

(Mark 4:35-41; Ps 77:12, 16-20)

This and the below have been my meditations for the past month. There are fewer this month; I’ve had to learn again to focus on the more profitable than the less. But what profit still the Lord blesses me with.

Meditations: December 2025

Lord, I have nothing to offer anyone
But my sin and your grace.
Be mighty, please.

God is spirit; man is flesh.
Thank you that there is flesh in heaven:
An advocate for man to God.
Thank you that there is Spirit in me:
An advocate for God to man.

(1 John 2:1; John 15:26)

I am slowly getting caught up from the holidays. Part of that is that I am finally posting my December meditations almost a week late. There are not so many of them, for the same reason as the lateness of their posting. That’s all right. The first half of December was busy before I got the flu, and the second was filled with gratitude for family in town. I’m happy that things are settling as the new year begins, however, and I’ve almost recovered my routine. The rest of these little thoughts:

The Loving Shepherd

The love is patient and is kind—
It lifts me up most tenderly;
It never want shall let me find—
That Christ my Shepherd bears for me.

He boasts my dullness not against,
He heatedly me bears no ill,
But leads my soul and keeps it fenc’d
In pastures green by waters still.

Restoring me, he never lords
It o’er, nor putteth me to shame,
But leads me in what path accords
With righteousness, for his great name.

Because in vales of death and woe
Thou emptied’st self to bring me near,
When thence with thee thou bidd’st me go,
There is no evil I will fear.

I love thy rod, for ne’er ’tis brought
Against me sharply as thy foe;
I love thy staff, that’s never thought
Mine endless strayings’ sums to know.

Thou lovest not iniquity
But cleansest me from ev’ry fault;
The flesh, the world, the Enemy
Shall find no pow’r this grace to halt.

Thy truth rejoiceth me within:
‘Tis wine that cheers to overflow,
‘Tis oil that makes my face to shine,
‘Tis bread, my heart in strength to grow.

(Ps 104:15)

You bear, believe, hope, and endure
Through all my weak or sinful ways;
Thy goodness and thy mercy, sure,
Shall me pursue for all my days.

Thy love shall never fail nor fall!
O Shepherd, in thine arms thy sheep
With kindness bear unto thy hall
In steadfast love to ever keep.

—12/13/25. On 1 Corinthians 13 and Psalm 23. To “O Waly Waly.”

Timorousness

Jesus, neath thy splintered cross
May I reckon lesser loss?
Ev’ry dream, and hope, and dare—
Ev’ry trial, fear, and care—
Anything that comes from me
Is surpassed by knowing thee.

(Phil 3:7-8)

Jesus, on thy nails again
May I come and hang my sin?
As thou bring’st thy light to bear,
More and more the dark I fear.
Purge all filth and stain from me;
Let me cleanness find in thee.

(Rom 7:21-25; 1 John 1:9)

Jesus, in thine empty tomb
Might there be for me now room?
Wrap me, weak and full of fear,
In thy grace; inter me there;
And in power raise thou me
Unto confidence in thee.

(Col 2:12; 2 Cor 13:4)

Jesus, at thy feet above
May I lay all other love?
Winnow all my chaff from me;
What is good, secure in thee,
That it may direct my gaze
To its perfect Source in praise.

(Isa 28:27-29; Jam 1:16-17)

Jesus, ere thy rainbowed throne
May I cast whatever crown
Thou think’st fit to set on me
For the good begun by thee
And which thou still workest, too,
Till thou lift me, whole, to you?

(Rev 4:9-11; Phil 1:6)

—12/9/25

Peace

The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Psalm xlvi. 11.

Behold the desolations of the Lord,
How war is ended by his mighty Word:
He breaks the bows and shatters all the spears;
With burning eye the chariots he sears,
And mid the wrack and ruin on his hill
And all the smoking wreckage on its climb,
His whisper soughs above the flames: “Be still,
And know that I am God, and I will be
Revered among all nations; I will be
Exalted in the earth for all of time.”
The Lord of hosts with us has sworn to dwell;
The God of Jacob is our citadel.

—12/2/25. On Psalm 46:8-11.