Tag: metaphysical

A poem by George Herbert about windows [ The Poetry Foundation,link below]

The Windows

By George Herbert

Lord, how can man preach thy eternal word?
    He is a brittle crazy glass;
Yet in thy temple thou dost him afford
    This glorious and transcendent place,
    To be a window, through thy grace.
But when thou dost anneal in glass thy story,
    Making thy life to shine within
The holy preachers, then the light and glory
    More reverend grows, and more doth win;
    Which else shows waterish, bleak, and thin.
Doctrine and life, colors and light, in one
    When they combine and mingle, bring
A strong regard and awe; but speech alone
    Doth vanish like a flaring thing,
    And in the ear, not conscience, ring.

A deep but dazzling darkness.

I heard these words some years ago and did not know who wrote them.Henry Vaughn was a 17th Century metaphysical poet and mystic.The quotation seems to imply a paradox as darkness is not dazzling..but I think that’s because we cannot  capture God in discursive language as if He were an object in our world

There is in God (some say) a deep but dazzling darkness.”
― Henry Vaughan