5 01 Of Q 1 1 8 3 9 PSALMS OF THE HEAFkT RESTORED JEAN PAFkKE THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES PSALMS OF THE HEART RESTORED PSALMS OF THE HEART RESTORED By JEAN PARKE NEW YORK TEMPLE SCOTT 1919 Copyright, 1919. by Jean Park* PROEM psalms which comprise this volume are the record of articulate gratitude overheard within the fastness of the soul Gratitude for a sublime vision of creation as forever perfect within the creative intention of the God of Genesis, in every point true to the divine origin, or original concept, and revealing throughout the fashioning of God's fine touch Gratitude for a vision which, rising apparently from the Valley of the Shadow, included perfect healing and transfiguration for my own consciousness. After long solitary contemplation of this immaculate revelation of the perfect oneness of the individual with inexhaustible Life, I heard, or overheard, my Soul speak thus to its Source, in thanksgiving for its refreshment and restoration. As songs singing themselves, they were addressed to separate concepts of universal perfection, as though to angels which had had charge over me to keep me in all my ways. All of them came in their present form complete, but although I began to record them at once, two months of constant quiet and concentration were required to inscribe them all. This effort, while serene in itself, automatically shut me off from all other consciousness. The writing seemed inexorable, as though it were a part of the establishing of that vision of immortality through which I had received perfect health and freedom. If through their publication, these poems serve another purpose, that purpose might be to offer, as subject for contemplation, sixteen concepts of wholeness, in whose likeness the reader may re-create himself. All may be used as 'Etudes' for the "practice of the presence of God." J.P. CONTENTS 1. THOU SOURCE AND GOAL. 2. THOU MAJESTY OF MIND. 3. THOU MAJESTY OF SILENCE. 4. THOU MAJESTY OF LIFE. 5. THOU MAJESTY OF ABUNDANCE. 6. THOU MAJESTY OF LIGHT. 7. THOU MAJESTY OF LOVE. 8. THOU MAJESTY OF BEAUTY. 9. THOU MAJESTY OF TRUTH. 10. THOU MAJESTY OF SOLITUDE. 11. THOU MAJESTY OF HARMONY. 12. THOU MAJESTY OF PERFECTION. 13. UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER. 14. OF ARMS DISCARDED. 15. REFRESHMENT ETERNAL. 16. JOY AND FINALITY. FOR ME is No FITNESS BUT BEAUTY, No HEALTH BUT HOLINESS, No CONSCIOUSNESS BUT PEACE. I HAVE NO CHOICE. INTROIT Who will help me bear my lot? Who will bear with me transfigured? I have gazed upon the new heaven, Who will help me gaze upon the new earth? THOU SOURCE AND GOAL ^H thou Source and Goal of my endurance! I have survived only as Joy and Gratitude. I thought to come before thee as a singer, But I perceive that I am only a song, A song thou did'st breathe forth at the tender dawn of creation, In the joy of thy work, in the fresh rapture of thy fair undertaking A song thou hast held safe forever in thy effulgent memory, Liquid, pure, and true as when the morning stars sang together Before its intervals were slurred and its meanings blurred By the careless rendering of lower worlds. Oh master of immortal music, of universal rhythm ! Of harmonies inviolate ! Of my own eternal aspiration ! Flawless I endure. I have survived as Joy and Gratitude. Oh exalt my measures with thy superb rendering ! My fearless strains with thine own mighty breath 1 Breathe forth to all eternity the rapture of my theme. I survive only as thine own immortal song. THOU MAJESTY OF MIND H thou majesty of Mind, whose thoughts Are all surpassing peace, think of me. Let thy irrevocable thought encompass me. Bathe thou my being hi thy all refreshing light. Turn upon me thy vast unwavering eternal gaze. Fix me with thy pristine innocence of vision. Penetrate my inmost reticence with thy fearless under standing. Absorb thou my identity in the stfpreme wonder of thy recognition. Embrace me in thy infallible tenderness, and Suik me in thy all healing completeness. So shall my soul return unto its source: So shall I soar, life crowned, to fresh endeavour, Resplendent in the majesty of thy creative imagery, In the constant consciousness of that transcendent beauty, Beyond all expression of symbols and sacraments. [19] Let me fly on the wings of thy intention To the goal of thy immaculate purposes 1 Glorify me as I was glorified in thy mind Before the world was experienced. Plunge thou me in that perfection Thou dost forever and eternally behold. Thine own irrevocable thought am I! Contemplate me in thy infinite leisure. Own me in thy thought where only may I know Peace that passeth all understanding. Acknowledge me in thy Holy of Holies. That where thou art there I may be also. [21] THOU MAJESTY OF SILENCE |H thou majesty of Silence, them calm un fathomable, Consolation eventual, absolute. Thoir brooding tenderness. Thou final poetry of quiescent thought. Thou givest me of thy sublime rest, of supreme profound refreshment, Wrapping me in thine own smiling repose, Thou dost rock me on the billows of thy boundless deep; As with a soft enfolding shroud dost thou cover me With a hush unutterable, inviolate, from beyond thy vaulted skies. The firmament of thy immaculate stillness closes over me. Lo, I am one with thy deep waters and thy soaring heavens. Thou givest me to be, of myself, at one time, both height and depth, To be, of myself, one sweet ecstasy of conciliation, One mute epic of completeness, one all embracing silence,. One God filled solitude. [25] THOU MAJESTY OF LIFE |H thou majesty of Life, whose sp arkling current flows Through all my rich content, my tremulous surprise, Through all my glad believing! Surging, quickening, pulsing, flooding all my burgeon ing fertility ! Oh stately riotous river from the ceaseless springs of hope, Flowing, ever flowing, whither bound? My heart leaps with the joy of thy tossing waves, As they wash, ever wash their banks. Rapture waits on the revelation of thy destiny! Through what ever widening consciousness, through what endless being Shalt thou pour thy glorious tumult To the rim of the ocean of fulfillment? The ineffable sweetness of thy purposes fills my heart With exquisite impatience, with silencing ecstasy. In the contemplation of thy sweet intention The breath of my life abates, my pulses leap in rapture. I will celebrate thy endlessness in my endlessness! I will go singing with thy rhythmic tides, I will go dancing on thy tossing waves, To the brink of the surging sea, To the rim of the ocean of fulfillment. [29] THOU MAJESTY OF ABUNDANCE thou majesty of Abundance, incalculable comfort! Overwhelm thou all my puerile compre hending, Inadequate receptivity, my halting imagery! Exalt my faltering petitions, my prostrate desires! Magnify my proportions, human, futile, My limitations, rigid, pitiful, The unimagination of my heart, with comprehension Of thy boundless increase, of thy inexhaustible substance, Of thy boundlessness. Lo, I am dispossessed of my poverty, Of my timidity, of my insubstantiality. I thought to cling to their shelter, I knew not the splendour of my equipment. How shall I use it all? Where shall I find a consecration fitting in nobility? [33] Upon whom may I shower my wealth? How can I learn thy spendthrift ways? How make my demand measure thy supply? Oh teach me thy magnificence! Expand my petty demands, to meet thy immeasurable supply, My poor desires, to thy unlimited bounty. My consciousness is drenched in thy torrent of plen- teousness, My hope bursts its bounds; My farthest horizon is drowned in the flood Of thy gracious giving. [85] THOU MAJESTY OF LIGHT H thou majesty of Light, thou centre and circumference of my steadfast vision, I am resigned to thy flaming supremacy. I thought to come before thee resplendent in thy vesture, Into the path of thy glory as a masterpiece of thy coloring, Forever stamped by thy immortal art, a consummation in myself. But I perceive with ecstasy that I am but the path of thy glory. Thou cooling fire of purity, thou hast overwhelmed my resistance, My gates are flung wide, my consciousness is inundated. Oh glory beyond all understanding, all deserving! I am the path of thy glowing splendour. Wherever I turn, there spreads and widens thy shimmer ing radiance. Wherever I gaze, there greets me manifold beauty, Glowing in the touch of thy all transfiguring revelation. [39] Wherever I would press forward, there runs ahead of me Thy fleet, gracious, shimmering welcome. Oh ineffable sweetness of decree, unescapable consumma tion That dost thus absorb me into thy blazing self, And dost diffuse me, with thyself,through all thy sparkling creation. Where shall my gaze rest? I am one confusion of happiness, one flood exultant, One commingling of all triumphs, one molten rhapsody. My gratitude is swept beyond its depth By the overwhelming inundation of joy. [41] THOU MAJESTY OF LOVE JH thou majesty of Love, immortal caress, Soft miracle of enfolding nourishment, of all sustaining refreshment, Of all pervading encouragement, of infallible healing balm. Miracle of laws sublime, law of miracles divine And altogether lovely. Thou inflorescence of grace, Softening, restoring. Thou excess bloom, lavish, spend thrift, Thou luxury of creation, overflowing all thy forms, Thou prodigality superb, sentient, heedless, unreckoning, Thou comest as the rose of life, in glowing beauty, warm, full blown, The dew of morning glistening on thy matchless cheeks, Bearing ever in thy breast thy priceless jar of alabaster, Ready ever, in thy all consuming pride of giving, To break thy precious gift for me, thou prodigal daughter, And pour its fragrant contents at my feet. The incense of thy unutterable devotion bears up my soul, Thy sparkling tears release my earthbound feet. I float on high wrapped hi the ethereal tenderness of thy cloudy hair; In the caressing mantle of thy shining hair. [45] THOU MAJESTY OF BEAUTY thou majesty of Beauty! Thou endless immaculate conception, Whose magic contact spreads joy forever. In thy touch is the caress of immortality, Thou essence of transfiguration! Exquisite and poignant is the joy of expressing thee ! Who shall sing of such joy, such exquisite poignance? Oh vision overwhelming in thyself ! Oh joy unutterable to cry out thy wonder, To seek expression for thy transcendent sweetness, A mirror for thy matchless grace! To fuse thus with thy glowing reality! Oh priceless privilege, everlasting undertaking! Oh to unveil thy blinding nakedness! Prepare my eyes with glimpses of thy shimmering self, With fragments of thy entirety, Lest I fall blind and prostrate before thy ultimate revela tion. For, in truth I do aspire to gaze upon thee Face to face, at last, forever and ever. [49] THOU MAJESTY OF TRUTH thou majesty of Truth, incomparable, absolute! Unconscious paragon of virgin loveliness, pure, uncompromising, resolute! Oh to know thee, experience exquisite, flawless! Intimacy, priceless beyond all desire, all deserts! Who shall penetrate thy reserve, Thy sanctity remote, austere? Thou goest decked in the beauty of holiness. At thy stately advance all paths are levelled smooth. If thou wouldst dip into the valley Of the shadow of discouragement, Lo, the black depths rise to thy majestic confidence And snowy lilies burst into waving hosannas of bloom. If thou wouldst scale the cold forbidding heights of achievement, Lo, the mountains sink beneath thy unconscious cer tainty, [53] And rosy clouds caress thy feet with intimate warmth On the snows of the bleak summit. Lo, the way is straight and true for thy passing. Even so the towering waves subside And the cavernous troughs are filled At thy quiet all subduing utterance "Peace, be still." I shall be still and know thee. Until I know I shall be still. Lest the waves of my thought mount in storm, Lest the path of my life break into barriers impassable, Let me be silent and receive thy mighty utterance, Let me be quiet and know thy insurgence of power, Let me pass over thy straight and level paths Of peace and confidence sublime. [65] THOU MAJESTY OF SOLITUDE [ H thou majesty of Solitude, august elimina tion of irrelevance, Hallowed concentration superlative. Thou lasting attainment, last attainable. Thou final triumph of the searching soul, Spirit, militant, crusading, the errant self. Thou arch of triumph for the returning soul Victorious, very self of very self. Thou portal of the permanent, far Holy of Holies, Where does transpire that union, mystical, consummate, Transfiguring, recreating of the immaculate soul with its source, Of the waiting soul with its waiting source. Oh blinding vision, irresistible flashing sign in the high heaven of consciousness, Unforgettable communion, all hallowed sacrament, All silencing fulfillment! From me all is hidden but thy everlasting beauty. All is hushed but thy mighty rhapsody. My ears ring with thy piercing sweetness. Oh veil of the temple rent for me, I am established within thy permanence, within thy remote impregnable fastness, I am steadfast under thy sentence of peace. I am resigned to thy perfection. I am lost in the supreme memory of supremacy Behind the veil. [59] THOU MAJESTY OF HARMONY I H thou majesty of Harmony, law of bound less freedom! Thou liberation buoyant, complete, In what ethereal lightness dost thou ever bathe The feet of thy disciples I So thou has tuned my instrument That now I have practised it in solitude Faithfully without ceasing I may play in thy great orchestra Of worlds on worlds without end. [63] THOU MAJESTY OF PERFECTION H thou majesty of Perfection, transcendent inclusion ! All satisfying wholeness, thou seamless entirety Of vast synthetic purity, all absorbing. Oh dazzling whiteness beyond the snows, To whose immaculate consummation All colors are necessary I I find myself in thy supreme splendour, In thy vivid concentration, Thy shimmering ultimate intensification Of all those colors I have so loved, And not one of them is lost. [67] UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER H thou font and fulness of my consecration, thou triumph voiced! Enunciation unmistakable, Deliverance un- escapable ! I am heavy with child, with the ponderous largo of my days and nights, With patience and postponement. I cry for deliverance. Oh deliver me of the surging life that leaps against my heart! Oh speed my travail, aid thou my bringing forth! Despair is not for me, for me is no going back. My safety waits on the gallant advance, in the steadfast vision, In the hope of the world to come: to come in majesty, in triumph. In the stern sanctuary of silence I will ponder the beauty of thy lloliness. I will prepare in my heart a highway for thy coming. A welcome noble, stately, humble, of purest worship. Thou vision glorious, thou one and only begotten idea. Thou full, perfect and sufficient adumbration Of the light of the whole world! [71] I have received thy immaculate conception, The enunciation of thy ringing trsth. Lo! I have no choice. What fulfillment do I await? What further knowledge of perfection? What fulness that is not mine already? The fulness of time is lost in the fulness of eternity. What wanton irrelevance can confuse What has been enunciated clearly to my satisfaction? The weariness of my o'erladen patience is lost In the tirelessness of Eternity. My patience is discarded, futile, needless. I will bring forth thy image in thy faithful likeness, In the rapture of thanksgiving. In the sublime confidence of thy love. [78] OF ARMS DISCARDED |F arms I sing that I carried needlessly, Of a sword and a shield that I have thrown To the winds of chaos ruthlessly. My strong sharp sword in wielding which My arm had grown strong was ambition. My round and faithful shield, behind which My heart had grown weak was patience. I bore them to the last end of my endurance, I can bear them no more. Hallelujah! They endured the fulness of their time, They cannot endure the fulness of eternity. They have crashed over the precipice, But I gaze not behind. I am free of their burden. My heart is bared to the infinite sky, My hands are freed to clap together In the abandonment of fierce rapture. I go shouting on the mountain top of exaltation. I go leaping in the freedom of the mountain air. Beauty beckons me above the virgin snows, Beyond the radiance of the new fallen snow Is the dazzling vision that beckons me. Fetterless I pursue. [77] REFRESHMENT ETERNAL my young, young soul I Thou youth triumphant! Thou immortal fairness, dauntless, burning, bright. Thou pure white flame of chastity, unex- tinguishable fixed star of dawn; Thou pure nude whiteness, forever at thy morning plunge, Forever radiant in thy eternal morning, In thy early rising, in thy foreverness. Thou incorruptible, unshadowed courage. Infallible guide, untrammeled, all subduing impulse, Fetterless, free, inviolate! Whither shall we wander? With my hand in thy glowing clasp, fearless in thy living strength, I may not look behind. For thee is no absolution, thou who hast never known fatigue, only achievement. Who hast nought to regret; who hast nought to forget, all to remember. The future sparkles in thy steadfast expectancy. All paths are lighted, all doors open before thy gallant vision. Eternity basks a calm and sunlit sea at thy serene approach. Thou goest walking on the shining waters. In thy tirelessness I am exalted to keep pace .with .thee, To keep peace with thee in eternal refreshment. [81] JOY AND FINALITY |H who will help me bear my happiness? I cannot bear it alone. Who can embrace my joy? * In sorrow there were many to watch with me, But who will bear with me transported beyond all bounds, Transfigured past all recognition, By joy unbearable alone, unendurable unshared? Who can recognize me thus transfigured? Oh high God, desert me not In my laboring sea of gladness, Tossed high in ecstasy by the fierce waves of rapture I Out of the deep have I called unto thee, Lord, Lord, hear my voice! Hear the echoes ringing, peal on peal, of my tumultuous joy I Thy rapt creation rings with my singing and the echoes of my song, [86] Hear thou my voice from out the deep of thy echoing creation. Realize me as eternal praise, unquenchable joy, As burning gratitude, consuming love! Identify thou my solitary aspiration, riding the waves of living melody That ever break in starry spray. I give myself up only as gratitude and joy. Never shall I be less magnificent. Eternity breaks about me. Lo, thou hast set thy seal Upon my offering. [87] UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. Form L9 15jn-10,'48 (B1039) 444 THE UNIV B Lite AlM.nl. ..S Parke - 3531 Psalms of the P216p UC SOUT HERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FAaUTY PS 3531 P21Sp