‘O Thou Fount of Joy, I Praise Thee’ and Other Poetry by Scáth Beorh

O Thou Fount of Joy, I Praise Thee

In my dark night He brought His joy
   by an ancient melody.
I was young then, did not know that
   what He taught me by degree
was a way to remain with Him
   when the storms of each new year
gathered o’erhead in defiance
   as if Death were that to fear.
Then came time for valediction
   and I wandered from His sight.
I was dragged then hither, tither
   ‘til my eyes could find no light.
Ev’ry path which first seemed easy
   later proved to be a mire.
Then I heard Him, softly, clearly,
   calling me Home from my dire
circumstances, false romances,
   hateful word and hateful hand;
for my fear had made me wonder
   if there truly was a land
filled with joy and readied for the
   one submitting all to Love.
Had I listened and not trusted
   in my self but looked above
I would have seen there in my sorrow
   that a kingdom overlays
this dark valley where death lingers,
   disappearing in our praise.
O, Thou Fount of Joy, I humbly
   give my very life to Thee.
Use me as Thou will, and guide me
   ev’ry step ‘til I will be
in Thy Presence, there to never
   leave again Thy sweet embrace.
I am saddened for believing
   in a lesser source of Grace.
O, my Shepherd, how I love Thee—
   I now give my all to Thee.
Waking, sleeping, I am yearning
   that Thy Light burn bright in me.

For My Often Forlorn Love

O, how I would lift her up on fiery wings—
take her high above this putrid motley state
where the best of us do lack in all good things…
and the worst lie passionate and filled with hate.

Comrade of the Bridegroom is she, as am I.
So, it is the voice of Him that she must heed—
yet if I save her, she will love me though she try
to love Him—vain ancestry then meet her need.

Then I would take her upon my burning wings—
wings set blazing with the fires of godless Hell,
for I would pillage her soul, ravage all good things
that the Bridegroom could have given her, and well.

Scáth Beorh is a writer of Ulster and Cherokee ancestries whose books include the High Fantasy novel Black Fox In Thin Places (Emby Press, 2013), the story collections Children & Other Wicked Things (JWK Fiction, 2013) and Always After Thieves Watch (Wildside Press, 2010), the Fantasy novel October House (Emby Kids, 2015), and the poetic study Dark Sayings Of Old (JWK, 2013). Raised in New Orleans and West Florida, and having made trips to India and Ireland, he now makes a home with his joyful and imaginative wife Ember in a quaint “turn of the century” neighborhood on the Atlantic Coast of Florida.

Feature Image: Dante’s Paradiso by Gustave Dore.

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