Words Are Windows Onto Mystery

I thank my God I have emerged at last,
Blinking from Hell, to see the quiet stars
Bewildered by the shadows that I cast.

You set me on this stair, in those rich hours
Pacing the study, chanting poetry
The Word in You revealed His quickening powers.

Removed the daily veil, and let me see,
As sunlight played along your book-lined walls,
That words are windows onto mystery.

From Eden, whence the living fountains falls
In music, from the tower of ivory,
And from the hidden heart, He calls

In the language of Adam, creating memory
Of unfallen speech, He sets creation
Free from the space of History.

His image in us is Imagination
His Spirit is a sacrifice of breath
Upon the letters of His Revelation.


(Poem by Malcolm Guite in his Faith, Hope and Poetry)