PORTRAITS OF THE ARTIST (G)

                           I

        Holinesse on the head,
  Light and perfections on the breast
Harmonious bells below, raising the dead
  To lead them into life and rest:
        Thus are true Aarons drest.

        Profanenesse in my head,
  Defects and darkness in my breast,
A noise of passions ringing me for dead
  Unto a place where is no rest:
        Poore priest thus am I drest.

        Onely another head
  I have, another heart and breast
Another musick, making live not dead
  Without whom I could have no rest:
        In Him I am well drest.

        Christ is my onely head,
  My alone onely heart and breast
My only musick, striking me ev'n dead;
  That to the old man I may rest
        And be in Him new drest.

        So holy in the head,
  Perfect and light in my deare breast
My doctrine tun'd by Christ (who is not dead,
  But lives in me while I do rest)
         Come people; Aaron's drest.

              II

Not my words, for words merely mine
Could attain no value in God's
Environment; only the Word
Could institute right words; the Son
Be language that is right; the Christ
Give anointed praise. Yet I must
Give voice - and others' cadences
Meld with my own. And if your heart
Is right with mine you can sing words
Not mine, but more than mine - and ours:


               III

Praise the One who is Creator,
Heaven's and earth's Originator
Yet come near as Mediator
    Between God and man.

Praise the Christ who as a stranger
Once was cradled in a manger,
Come in flesh to be the changer
    Of the course of time.

Praise the Man who here was sowing
Seed from which good seed is growing
In abundance overflowing
    To the Father's joy

Praise the Shepherd who has sought us:
With His precious blood He bought us,
With His tender arms he brought us
    Back into His fold.

Praise the Victor who invaded
Realms where Satan's might pervaded;
Now no power we are persuaded
    Separates from Him.

Praise the Man who God perfected
For the work which He effected
Now He leads the Sons selected
    To a glorious sphere.

Praise the Firstborn of creation
End of all man's perturbation
Bringing reconciliation
    As the Prince of Peace.

                                    22/4/94

(This attempt towards autobiography contains poems from earlier periods, this being appropriate to my objective. AI, DI, DIII, EI & FI were previously poems in their own right; DII was a fragment which needed a setting; GI is, of course, by George Herbert. The poet of AIII is GMB.)

And further: I had the concept of a archetypical village with the seven characters the chief, the shepherd, the peasant, the soldier, the tramp, the poet and the priest in it.  I have used this - varied, so that the chief could be a king, for example, as a basis for poems around the time this was written.  I think I'll follow up with other examples of this.