human-tree
by Chesterton · Cluster: Christianity · Faith and Doubt · Doubt
Abstract
A lyric on a man who stands tree-still in a field, a Father-figure to nature, while the grass and worms cry to him as to a silent God; themes of stillness, divine silence, doubt and faith.
Testo / Text
Connections
Topoi: Book of Nature, Great Chain of Being, Sublime in Nature, Axis Mundi (World Tree) Motifs: Silence, Nature, Stars, Birds, Animals, Prayer, Insects, Grass Leaves of Grass, Stone and Marble, Tree Themes & Concepts: Faith and Doubt, Doubt, Natural Order, Self-Knowledge, One Life (Pantheism), Unseen The Hidden, Self and Cosmos Forms & Genres: Lyric Settings: Rural England
Testo integrale / Full text
The Human Tree
Many have Earth’s lovers been,
Tried in seas and wars, I ween;
Yet the mightiest have I seen:
Yea, the best saw I.
One that in a field alone
Stood up stiller than a stone
Lest a moth should fly.
Birds had nested in his hair,
On his shoon were mosses rare,
Insect empires flourished there,
Worms in ancient wars;
But his eyes burn like a glass,
Hearing a great sea of grass
Roar towards the stars.
From them to the human tree
Rose a cry continually:
`Thou art still, our Father, we
Fain would have thee nod.
Make the skies as blood below thee,
Though thou slay us, we shall know thee.
Answer us, O God!
`Show thine ancient fame and thunder,
Split the stillness once asunder,
Lest we whisper, lest we wonder
Art thou there at all?‘
But I saw him there alone,
Standing stiller than a stone
Lest a moth should fall.
G.K. CHESTERTON