Lightning
and Thunder.
Christina Rossetti
I hope,--
And I remember,--
We give place
Either to other with contented grace,
Acceptable and lovely all our days.
Frost.
I make the unstable stable, binding fast
The world of waters prone to ripple past:
Thus praise I God, Whose mercies I forecast.
Cold.
I rouse and goad the slothful, apt to nod,
I stir and urge the laggards with my rod:
My praise is not of men, yet I praise God.
Snow.
My whiteness shadoweth Him Who is most fair,
All spotless: yea, my whiteness which I wear
Exalts His Purity beyond compare.
Vapors.
We darken sun and moon, and blot the day,
The good Will of our Maker to obey:
Till to the glory of God we pass away.
Night.
Moon and all stars I don for diadem
To make me fair: I cast myself and them
Before His feet, Who knows us gem from gem.
Day.
I shout before Him in my plenitude
Of light and warmth, of hope and wealth and food;
Ascribing all good to the Only Good.
Light and Darkness.
I am God's dwelling-place,--
And also I
Make His pavilion,--
Lo, we bide and fly
Exulting in the Will of God Most High.
Lightning and Thunder.
We indivisible flash forth His Fame,
We thunder forth the glory of His Name,
In harmony of resonance and flame.
Clouds.
Sweet is our store, exhaled from sea or river:
We wear a rainbow, praising God the Giver
Because His mercy is for ever and ever.
Earth.
I rest in Him rejoicing: resting so
And so rejoicing, in that I am low;
Yet known of Him, and following on to know.
Mountains.
Our heights which laud Him, sink abased before
Him higher than the highest evermore:
God higher than the highest we adore.
Hills.
We green-tops praise Him, and we fruitful heads,
Whereon the sunshine and the dew He sheds:
We green-tops praise Him, rising from out beds.
Green Things.
We all green things, we blossoms bright or dim,
Trees, bushes, brushwood, corn and grasses slim,
We lift our many-favored lauds to Him.
Rose,--Lily,--Violet.
I praise Him on my thorn which I adorn,--
And I, amid my world of thistle and thorn,--
And I, within my veil where I am born.
Apple,--Citron,--Pomegranate.
We, Apple-blossom, Citron, Pomegranate,
We, clothed of God without our toil and fret,
We offer fatness where His Throne is set.
