“O never star” a poem of hope
Robert Browning lived in a time of great poets. He was a poet since childhood and studied at home, speaking four languages by twelve years of age. Later in life, he married the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning and encouraged her to publish her now famous love sonnets. He was contemporaneous with the likes of Tennyson and Wordsworth and lived in Italy for most of his life. While I am not familiar with much of his work, this small piece is near and dear to my heart.
“O never star
Was lost; here
We all aspire to heaven and there is heaven
Above us.
If I stoop
Into a dark tremendous sea of cloud,
It is but for a time; I press God’s lamp
Close to my breast; its splendor soon or late
Will pierce the gloom. I shall emerge some day.”
This Browning snippet is probably my favorite bit of living poetry. It is living because it is alive with hope, with the ever-glowing lamplight of the love of God shining through the dark. It is a hope poem, and I live for hope poems.
This classic hope poem by Dickinson is one of my favorites, too, but in my heart, Browning comes first.
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I’ve heard it in the chilliest land
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
Living poems do perch in our soul. They revive us. For me, these hope poems simply put into words the hope I have in Christ. It’s like a poet’s rendition of the 23rd Psalm. Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me…” I may have not written Browning’s words, but there they are, perched and waiting, aspiring to heaven.
This poem reminds us that grief is but for a time, and we shall emerge some day. Again, those Bible verses come to mind, “Sorrow endures for the night, but joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5). “There is a time to laugh, and a time to cry”(Ecclesiastes 3:4. I can’t help but think that these timeless God-breathed scriptures helped inspire these poets to portray such vibrant images of hope. Even Browning’s lamp brings Psalm 119 to mind. “Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:11). Thank you, Lord, for living poems that breathe their hope into my being and remind me of your lavish love.
