Phillip Medhurst presents 131/788 James Tissot Bible c 1899 The gathering of the manna Exodus 16:17 Jewish Museum New York. By a follower of (James) Jacques-Joseph Tissot, French, 1836-1902. Gouache on board.
Phillip Medhurst
Wisdom from a Gnostic Sage
Tag: manna
Mar 8, 2016
Martyrdom
The rich reduced, the poor endowed,
The weak are raised to thrones of power.
The good Lord rules while kings are cowed;
He undermines the tyrant’s tower.
In tatters, stripped, from field walled,
God calls us to his banquet spread.
Let super-substantial manna fall,
This day our daily-given bread.
The full are starved, the empty fed,
The fertile pine, the barren bear.
He flattens fields, gives landless bread;
Both weal and woe our God can share.
I am his wheat, ground in a mill
By tooth of beast to make fine leaven;
I shall rise up to do His will,
As done this very hour in heaven.
Feb 4, 2016
On Reading Psalms and Holy Verses
Proverbs 1:31; 9:5
If I could grasp at Truth at all,
In a fine feast of hymnody,
I’d eat my fill; but my own fall
Has made of it a parody.
Beyond my reach, it’s only ash
I savour now, from Dead Sea fruit.
My lot bewailed, my teeth I gnash,
As I grub up fell’s shrieking root:
My birthright sold, my mess it makes.
Sin’s fruitage taught what Adam knows:
With swine the prodigal partakes.
I’ll go, then – glean where Wisdom sows.
Sophia’s fare – her wind-doled meat –
Her manna won’t to poison turn.
With new-washed hands I’ll take, I’ll eat,
Refresh my soul, and lesson learn.
Spiced with sagacity Faith’s songs
Will whet anew my appetite:
Then grown upright and done with wrongs
I’ll taste a fresh and chaste delight.
Phillip Medhurst 