Dancing with Angels

Songs and Poems of the Millennium

W. Brunhofer

• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN:
  9781098064921
• eBook ISBN:
  9781098064938
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Religious Poetry
• Index: Literature

Good poetry is good because it connects us to universal human values and truths that speak to all people. Poems have the ability to inspire us to seek truth and take us on journeys in pursuit of goodness: from a fearless warrior's journey and stories of dauntless kings who beat the odds to celebrations of the beauty of nature and innocence of childhood and musings on the vastness of time and depth of true love. These verses mount an investigation into sources of human goodness and an exploration of the ultimate source of good.

Dancing with Angels Songs and Poems of the Millennium invites us to engage with those "better angels" whose guidance illuminates our better natures and brings us closer to the truth, rebalancing the human spirit in calibration with our Creator.

Part I

William Blake, called a visionary and England’s “most poetical of all poets,” wrote in “A New Jerusalem,” that England had been visited by “the countenance divine” shining forth among the “dark satanic mills,” and that Jerusalem was being built in that “green and pleasant land.”

Note the personal call to arms and conviction that he, Blake, is literally called to the front lines: “Bring me my bow…my arrows…my spear…my chariot of fire;” and that the battle is also ceaseless “mental fight” with sword “in…hand,” until “we have built Jerusalem.” Jerusalem is not imposed, for Blake, not the sole work of the Creator or even the Lamb of God he refers to. He appears, rather, to join in the battle as his own, because he shares the vision.

A New Jerusalem

by William Blake

And did those feet in ancient time

Walk upon England’s mountains green?

And was the Holy Lamb of God

On England’s pleasant pastures seen?

And did the countenance divine

Shine forth upon our clouded hills?

And was Jerusalem builded here

Among these dark satanic mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold!

Bring me my arrows of desire!

Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!

Bring me my chariot of fire!

I will not cease from mental fight,

Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,

Till we have built Jerusalem

In England’s green and pleasant land.

William Butler Yeats, another visionary English poet, conjures an even more dramatic vision in his poem, The Second Coming. However, unlike Blake, he does not step into the vision. His place is one “to stand perplexed aside.” Still, here are planted rich clues in his stunning poetical look at the human condition amidst the prospect of “some revelation,” the Second Coming, where the “best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.” He helps us wonder: is there truly a best and worst, or are these references to the two sides of the same human coin?

The Second Coming

by William Butler Yeats

Turning and turning in a widening gyre,

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;

Surely the Second Coming is at hand;

The second coming! Hardly are those words out

When a vast...

Table of contents

• Introduction
• Part I
• Part II