Look where he lies, a clod of earth at best,
Yet colder than a clod, for where there shone
Look where he lies, a clod of earth at best,
Yet colder than a clod, for where there shone
This mountain means discovery, since the day
I climbed it first in boyhood and alone,
Come death suddenly from the sea or cloud,
With the blast of thunder and the blinding shroud,
Out of the cloud my Lord the Sun,
Out of the earth my Lady Spring,
If I should die, grieve not for youth
Blighted, and towers of hope that fell
Michael Thwaites’ religious faith underlies much of his poetry, whether specifically Christian or not. From early on, he felt a spiritual response to music and saw evidence of divine mystery in the natural world around him.
Lord of earth and all creation
let your love possess our land;
Arrived at the heavenly mansions, the blessed Saint
(female on earth) was welcomed by St Peter
..stamped with a star, but posted beyond the stars,
marked ‘No Commercial Value’, signed, with a cross,
‘The love that moves the sun and all the stars’ –
When Dante wrote there was no telescope: