The White Peace

It lies not on the sunlit hill

Nor on the sunlit plain:

Nor ever on any running stream

Nor on the unclouded main—

But sometimes, through the Soul of Man,

Slow moving o’er his pain,

The moonlight of a perfect peace

Floods heart and brain.

William Sharp

Tell Me a Story

Long ago, in Kentucky, I, a boy, stood
By a dirt road, in first dark, and heard
The great geese hoot northward.

I could not see them, there being no moon
And the stars sparse. I heard them.

I did not know what was happening in my heart.

It was the season before the elderberry blooms,
Therefore they were going north.

The sound was passing northward.

Tell me a story.

In this century, and moment, of mania,
Tell me a story.

Make it a story of great distances, and starlight.

The name of the story will be Time,
But you must not pronounce its name.

Tell me a story of deep delight.

Robert Penn Warren

Disturb us, Lord

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wilder seas
Where storms will show
Your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask you to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push back the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.
This we ask in the name of our Captain,
Who is Jesus Christ.

Sir Francis Drake

The Seekers

Friends and loves we have none, nor wealth nor blessed abode,
But the hope of the City of God at the other end of the road.

Not for us are content, and quiet, and peace of mind,
For we go seeking a city that we shall never find.

There is no solace on earth for us—for such as we—
Who search for a hidden city that we shall never see.

Only the road and the dawn, the sun, the wind, and the rain,
And the watch-fire under stars, and sleep, and the road again.

We seek the City of God, and the haunt where beauty dwells,
And we find the noisy mart and the sound of burial bells.

Never the golden city, where radiant people meet,
But the dolorous town where mourners are going about the street.

We travel the dusty road till the light of the day is dim,
And sunset shows us spires away on the world’s rim.

We travel from dawn to dusk, till the day is past and by,
Seeking the Holy City beyond the rim of the sky.

Friends and loves we have none, nor wealth nor blest abode,
But the hope of the City of God at the other end of the road.

John Masefield

Prayer of St. Aidan

Leave me alone with God
as much as may be.

As the tide draws the waters
close in upon the shore,

Make me an island, set apart,
Alone with you, God, holy to you.

Then with the turning of the tide
Prepare me to carry your presence

To the busy world beyond,
The world that rushes in on me.

Till the waters come again
and fold me back to you.

29. Reconciliation

I begin through the grass once again to be bound to the Lord;
I can see, through a face that has faded, the face full of rest
Of the earth, of the mother, my heart with her heart in accord,
As I lie ’mid the cool green tresses that mantle her breast
I begin with the grass once again to be bound to be Lord.

By the hand of a child I am led to the throne of the King
For a touch that now fevers me not is forgotten and far,
And His infinite sceptred hands that sway us can bring
Me in dreams from the laugh of a child to the song of a star.
On the laugh of a child I am borne to the joy of the King.

George William Russell

You almost kissed me...

I woke up today, happy. Not diluted happiness mixed with grogginess, bitterness, beligerence, or a want for privacy or mineness. No, I woke up today from a dream of you. And you almost kissed me, or maybe you did. I distinctly remember your beard covered face, your helpfulness in my multitude of business dreaming. You were a good man, with a dark beard and light eyes. You leant down and pressed your soft lips to mine, or you almost did. That's the beauty of that half wakeful state of dreaming, you never really know exactly. I don't know, but the gift, the blessing of being woken with a kiss. That is something beautiful. And I woke today feeling that beauty. Thank you God. Thank you for the little kiss of hope and cherished feelings that woke me up today.

I love God dreams. Once I felt a hug as I woke up from a nap. Once you used the calling of a crow to wake me when I needed it. You helped me forgive my father through a dream. And once a man I could love kissed me awake.
Thank you God for dreams.