Crossing Jordan

*** Revised Common Lectionary *** Lectionary Reading: Joshua 3:7-17 CLASSIC POEM: The Transfiguration Edwin Muir Who says that fictions only and false hair Become a verse? Is there in truth no beauty? Is all good structure in a winding stair? May no lines pass, except they do their duty Not to a true, but painted chair? Is it no verse, except enchanted groves And sudden arbours shadow coarse-spun lines? Must purling streams refresh a lover’s loves? Must all be veil’d, while he that reads, divines, Catching the sense at two removes? Shepherds are honest people; let them sing; Riddle who list, for me, and pull for prime; I envy no man’s nightingale or spring; Nor let them punish me with loss of rhyme, Who plainly say, my God, my King. *** This poem is in the public domain, and may be read in a live-streamed worship service. CONTEMPORARY POEM: Crossing Jordan Langston Hughes SNIPPET: It was that lonely day, folks, When I walked by myself. My friends was all around me But it was just as if they’d left … [ READ THE FULL POEM ]