The Responsive Heart

BEN HAWORTH-BOOTH

O Heart of mine, that I have deemed of yore
Inconstant arbiter of flesh and bone,
What dark deceit, what code of barbarous lore
Have thus conspired to rob me of my own?
'Tis thine, my heart, to trend in truthful tone
Harmonious with the harmonies that guide
The stars of heaven across their crystal zone,
The earth upon its orbit, and the pride
Of ocean's ebb and flow, the rhythm of time and tide.

The throb of every heart, as of the ocean,
In constant course God rules; and all is well
Within His kingdom; earth's euphonious motion,
As music of the heavenly spheres doth tell
Of one sustaining Mind; the fall and swell
Of every bosom, as a tidal river,
Obey His will, so every blade and bell
Of Him has life, as we have life forever:
We look to Him for love, and none this love may sever.

Even as the soft wind blows from out the West
What time the winter's anxious course is run,
And lingers not, but comes at Love's request
To bring the awakening violet to the sun,
So does my heart respond; the victory won
Of peace o'er tumult, over tempest calm,
Upholds my prayer in praiseful orison,
With sweet reposeful thought, and breath of balm,
And tones harmonious as a choiring angel's psalm.

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