October 28, 2013
Brighton Beach, John Constable (1824)
The Monk by the Sea*
There lived a monk by the sea –
He walked along the sand,
He wandered silently
Without a friend at hand,
And when the last gray swatch
Of day hung in the sky,
He’d wander there and watch
The ships go sailing by;
And sometimes it would happen
When winter storms would blow,
Some rash and foolish captain
Would bring his ship to woe;
And the monk would see the boat
That floundered in the tide,
And he would hear the shout
The desperate sailors cried,
And helpless to give aid
In the black and icy shoals,
To the Lord God he prayed
For mercy on their souls.
I too have walked alone
Along that very strand,
And heard the ocean groan
When winter was at hand,
And seen the gray sky lit
With the sun’s last waning rays,
And thought a little bit
On the ever-darkening days-
On the vileness and the hate,
The chaos and the rage,
And all the sins that weight
The sinking of the age;
And finding myself frail
To rescue humankind,
To Him behind the veil
I’ve raised my faltering mind,
And sadly lingering there
Where the dying current curled,
I have prayed a little prayer
For the shipwreck of the world.
* From Distant Lands Near and Far; with permission by the author.
