Why shouldst thou walk in grief?
Why is thy step so heavy?
Knowest thou not that thy God is watching
Ever at the ready?
When thou art weary, hopeless, and lost,
Why do thine eyes not see?
I am he,
pr Yea, I am he that comforteth thee.
Though clouds turn black and grim,
Though winter storms distress thee,
Trust in thy God, whose arm is mighty -
I will not forget thee.
Mine is the hand that stretched forth the heavens,
That formed the skies and sea.
I am he,
Yea, I am he that comforteth thee.
Where is the tyrant
Where the oppressor's fury?
Wake to the voice of thy God who guards thee.
He will soon secure thee.
Though thou art captive, be of good cheer -
Thou shalt my people be.
I am he,
Yea, I am he that comforteth thee.
The goal of Project 52 is to write the type of thing I've never really written before. I've always struggled with writing that presents religios sentiment. For the most part, religious poetry and lyrics seem to fall flat, as the (hopefully sincere) sentiments of these writers and composers have already been expressed elsewhere, and better.
My solution, then, was to just roll with it and steal like crazy.
Most of the text is paraphrased from 2 Nephi 8, which is itself a rephrasing of Isaiah 51. I find I like the wording in the Book of Mormon slightly better. The repeated "I am he" is lifted (almost) directly from that passage.
There's also a bit of Mendelsshon's "He Watching Over Israel" in there, which gets much of ITS text from the Psalms. So there.
Why is thy step so heavy?
Knowest thou not that thy God is watching
Ever at the ready?
When thou art weary, hopeless, and lost,
Why do thine eyes not see?
I am he,
pr Yea, I am he that comforteth thee.
Though clouds turn black and grim,
Though winter storms distress thee,
Trust in thy God, whose arm is mighty -
I will not forget thee.
Mine is the hand that stretched forth the heavens,
That formed the skies and sea.
I am he,
Yea, I am he that comforteth thee.
Where is the tyrant
Where the oppressor's fury?
Wake to the voice of thy God who guards thee.
He will soon secure thee.
Though thou art captive, be of good cheer -
Thou shalt my people be.
I am he,
Yea, I am he that comforteth thee.
The goal of Project 52 is to write the type of thing I've never really written before. I've always struggled with writing that presents religios sentiment. For the most part, religious poetry and lyrics seem to fall flat, as the (hopefully sincere) sentiments of these writers and composers have already been expressed elsewhere, and better.
My solution, then, was to just roll with it and steal like crazy.
Most of the text is paraphrased from 2 Nephi 8, which is itself a rephrasing of Isaiah 51. I find I like the wording in the Book of Mormon slightly better. The repeated "I am he" is lifted (almost) directly from that passage.
There's also a bit of Mendelsshon's "He Watching Over Israel" in there, which gets much of ITS text from the Psalms. So there.
No comments:
Post a Comment