God's Light-Houses
1 When night falls on the earth, the sea
2 From east to west lies twinkling bright
3 With shining beams from beacons high
4 Which flash afar a friendly light.
5 The sailor's eyes, like eyes in prayer,
6 Turn unto them for guiding ray:
7 If storms obscure their radiance,
8 The great ships helpless grope their way.
9 When night falls on the earth, the sky
10 Looks like a wide, a boundless main.
11 Who knows what voyagers sail there?
12 Who names the ports they seek and gain?
13 Are not the stars like beacons set
14 To guide the argosies that go
15 From universe to universe,
16 Our little world above, below?--
17 On their great errands solemn bent,
18 In their vast journeys unaware
19 Of our small planet's name or place
20 Revolving in the lower air.
21 O thought too vast! O thought too glad!
22 An awe most rapturous it stirs.
23 From world to world God's beacons shine:
24 God means to save his mariners!
poem by Helen Hunt Jackson
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Related quotes
Sometimes Thunder Draws
Sometimes thunder draws blue white lines at night,
rain falls pouring
and later when the clouds open
God displays His stars.
They shine secretly,
bringing light to a dark universe,
sparkle as if they are beacons
from which the light falls,
as if they are indicating
the way back to home.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Tonight stars do twinkle (English sonnet)
Tonight stars do twinkle with their glowing light
while the wonders from God's hand do shine
and some are dim and some are white and bright
as they display a power Godly and divine
and from the moment they did begin
every night they do find their way
as Godly beacons to a world of sin
until the very break of day
while constantly they do glow
and in the darkness do appear
as if some hidden purpose they do know,
as if to them constantly Godly power is near
as they are shining always sparkling
and to onlookers some wonder and joy they do bring
poem by Gert Strydom
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Silent Witness
Look up at the vast universe and see
the heavens proclaiming God's majesty.
For throughout the whole world the stars declare
God's greatness and His loving care.
There's no place in which their voice is not heard
For they speak in tongues not confined to words.
For each star in that vast heaven so bright
shines out for His Glory every night.
All throughout the night their anthem they raise
singing to God their great chorus of praise.
As we listen to what they have to say
join with their praise as we walk on our way.
Lifting our spirit to heaven above
praising the Lord for His mercy and love.
The World Is Vast
THE WORLD IS SO VAST
The world is so vast-
There are so many things and people in it -
We know there are more stars than people,
And so many times more people than we will ever know-
We know a small part of everything there is
And even that changes
And we know less and more with the years -
What we are is a surprise sometimes
But even then we cannot understand it-
How great God has made the universe or perhaps all the universes
We cannot know –
From our small time in our own small time
Let us love life as best we can
And live as well as we can,
Before our little time in the vastness of time passes
poem by Shalom Freedman
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God Is The Light
God is the Light
How great the wonders of the heavens
And the timeless beauty of the night
How great then how great the Creator?
And its stars like priceless jewels
Far beyond the reach of kings
Bow down for the shepherd guiding him home.
But how many eyes are closed
To the wonder of this night?
Like pearls, hidden, deep beneath a dark
Stream of desires.
But like dreams vanish with the call to prayer
And the dawn extinguishes night here too are signs.
God is the Light - God is the Light
How great the beauty of the Earth and the creatures
Who dwell on her.
How great then how great the Creator?
As it's mountains pierce the clouds
High about the lives of men
Weeping rivers for thousands of years.
But how many hearts are closed
To the wonders of this sight?
Like birds on a cage, asleep with closed wings
But as work stops with the call to prayer
And the birds recite here too are signs
God is the Light God is the Light
How great the works of man and the things he makes
How great then how great the Creator?
Though he strives to reach the heavens
He can barely survive
The wars of the world he lives in.
Yet, how many times he's tried,
Himself to immortalise?
Like his parents before him in the Garden of Eden
But like the sun sets with the call to prayer
And surrenders to the night here too are signs
God is the Light Everlasting
God is the Light Everlasting
song performed by by Cat Stevens
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Star Speaks
In this universe so vast and wide
why do we humans run and hide
from the fact that there just might be
other beings different than we?
So many stars up in the skies
shining down like so many eyes
look right down and say to you
'There are others out there
that are in my view.'
Do not fear the multitudes of others
that just like you have sisters and brothers.
The day will arrive when all will say
if only you weren't so far away
you could teach us how to live with love
and how not to kill a soul.
We have never learned that here on earth
and still we play that role.
As a star that's shining in the night
I see all that's not in your sight.
I've watched and learned for eons of years
that the humans on earth cry too many tears.
And as I burn up and exist no more
my light still shines on each distant shore.
I wait for all to find each other
and revel in the differences in one another.
And when my light is gone and dies
I'll remember the song of children'; s eyes.
'Twinkle, twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are? '
poem by Edwina Reizer
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Differntial perceptions
The stars look down indifferently.
The earth is bathed in pale moonlight.
The night is passing peacefully
or so it seems apparently.
Believers in astrology
who are convinced that they are right.
Say stars affect our destiny,
I do not see how that could be
They’re too remote, too far away
Those twinkling beacons in the night
to influence effectively
each person individually.
Astronomy, astrology
two systems which are opposite.
One proven scientifically
The other believed fervently
I accept the reality
of the bright stars I see at night
I can’t accept astrology
and offer no apology
Although you may think differently
It is your choice, you have the right.
What proof have you to offer me
which will stand up to scrutiny?
1-Sep-07
poem by Ivor Or Ivor.e Hogg
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1887
From Clee to heaven the beacon burns,
The shires have seen it plain,
From north and south the sign returns
And beacons burn again.
Look left, look right, the hills are bright,
The dales are light between,
Because 'tis fifty years to-night
That God has saved the Queen.
Now, when the flame they watch not towers
About the soil they trod,
Lads, we'll remember friends of ours
Who shared the work with God.
To skies that knit their heartstrings right,
To fields that bred them brave,
The saviours come not home to-night:
Themselves they could not save.
It dawns in Asia, tombstones show
And Shropshire names are read;
And the Nile spills his overflow
Beside the Severn's dead.
We pledge in peace by farm and town
The Queen they served in war,
And fire the beacons up and down
The land they perished for.
"God save the Queen" we living sing,
From height to height 'tis heard;
And with the rest your voices ring,
Lads of the Fifty-third.
Oh, God will save her, fear you not:
Be you the men you've been,
Get you the sons your fathers got,
And God will save the Queen.
poem by Alfred Edward Housman
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The Glory of Ships
The glory of ships is an old, old song,
since the days when the sea-rovers ran
In their open boats through the roaring surf,
and the spread of the world began;
The glory of ships is a light on the sea,
and a star in the story of man.
When Homer sang of the galleys of Greece
that conquered the Trojan shore,
And Solomon lauded the barks of Tyre that
brought great wealth to his door,
'Twas little they knew, those ancient men,
what would come of the sail and the oar.
The Greek ships rescued the West from the East,
when they harried the Persians home;
And the Roman ships were the wings of strength
that bore up the empire, Rome;
And the ships of Spain found a wide new world,
far over the fields of foam.
Then the tribes of courage at last saw clear
that the ocean was not a bound,
But a broad highway, and a challenge to seek
for treasure as yet unfound;
So the fearless ships fared forth to the search,
in joy that the globe was round.
Their hulls were heightened, their sails spread out,
they grew with the growth of their quest;
They opened the secret doors of the East,
and the golden gates of the West;
And many a city of high renown
was proud of a ship on its crest.
The fleets of England and Holland and France
were at strife with each other and Spain;
And battle and storm sent a myriad ships
to sleep in the depths of the main;
But the seafaring spirit could never be drowned,
and it filled up the fleets again.
They greatened and grew, with the aid of steam,
to a wonderful, vast array,
That carries the thoughts and the traffic of men
into every harbor and bay;
And now in the world-wide work of the ships
'tis England that leads the way.
O well for the leading that follows the law
of a common right on the sea!
But ill for the leader who tries to hold
what belongs to mankind in fee!
The way of the ships is an open way,
and the ocean must ever be free!
Remember, O first of the maritime folk,
how the rise of your greatness began.
It will live if you safeguard the round-the-world road
from the shame of a selfish ban;
For the glory of ships is a light on the sea,
and a star in the story of man!
poem by Henry Van Dyke
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From The Heart Of Me
Voices slide down off the mountain, sunlight turning red
Falls on the earth and it spreads
Even the families lower their heads as they ride
Age old faces of the mountains looming naturally
I wonder if theyre looking at me, their monumental eyes I can feel
In the glow of the twilight the thought of home
Reminds me now Im reaching out to you
Anything I can do to be safe and warm in your arms
All I have from the heart of you
Id meet you anywhere in the country or anywhere on the sea
All over the world it could be I would follow you with the heart of me
Remembering you hold me tight in tomorrow mornings light I will fine you
When I awoke the stars were out and shining, shining for you and me
All I ever wanna be is save and warm in your arms
All I have, from the heart of me
song performed by by Grateful Dead
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Loving Eyes
I look into your loving eyes,
my soul feels and realize
how they are so wise.
Your eyes intoxicate,
I don’t exaggerate,
they herald my fate.
Your eyes are revelation,
they are my inspiration,
they are God’s creation.
They are the source of light,
they shine so bright,
like magic stars at night.
They are the smile of the universe,
two sparkling angels on the planet Earth.
©Larisa Rzhepishevska
November 12th,2010
poem by Larisa Rzhepishevska
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Delusion
I would live forever beneath a rainbow if I could,
But if I became a dove, I would lift my wings and fly past that rainbow,
Worship the sun, play hide and seek with
Clouds of fortune and
When evening set in I would
Dance amongst the stars, search for the moon,
Let the light of the moon guide me towards
Some other planet and there I would make my home.
The rings of Saturn are enticing, and far more mysterious than
The seas and continents of the planet earth-
Saturn has always been the foremost and intriguing planet
Within the magical ocean of my dream world-
Yesterday I awakened at dawn, to find a rainbow on the horizon-
Its vibrant colors seemed to summon me, and Inside the world of my fantasies
I became that dove and soared upward toward the sky
Until I found myself hovering amidst that rainbow-
Its colors reflecting in the stream below-
But sad to say, rainbows always disappear and
I would find myself without destination wading in that stream,
That stream that leads towards nowhere.
However when I close my eyes to reality and once again become that dove,
I ascend in flight into the universe, my eyes fixed upon Saturn and
The rings of Saturn are so like a rainbow that is spinning
About this magnificently beautiful planet I would want to make my home,
I would live beneath a rainbow if I could,
And when that rainbow disappears I would take flight and find Saturn-
Saturn is amazing in its appearance and
Is glorious and extraordinary in all tales that have been told of planets in the universe,
Doves have been correlated with peace and I can see myself in flight
Safely in my solitude as I would be the first living being on that planet-
Its rainbow-like rings about me that I know shall never fade away-
I being the peaceful dove that has escaped veracity forever and
While rainbows on earth may be lovely to see, they are short lived-
The rings of Saturn shall always be there glistening, and enlightening night's darkness.
Inside my mind I have always dreamed of an incomparable place to call home-
A unique, far away place where I can bask in my solitude-
Perhaps I shall never be a dove flying about Saturn and rainbows always fade,
But when I close my eyes I shall always see many colors, stars and the universe,
And inside of my mind, fantasy shall transform to reality until the day I die-
And the day I die my spirit shall rise past clouds of fortune and
Shall live amongst the stars, Saturn and the other planets in the universe for always…
poem by Claudia Krizay
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Bertha’s Eyes
You can scorn more illustrious eyes,
sweet eyes of my child, through which there takes flight
something as good or as tender as night.
Turn to mine your charmed shadows, sweet eyes!
Great eyes of a child, adorable secrets,
you resemble those grottoes of magic
where, behind the dark and lethargic,
shine vague treasures the world forgets.
My child has veiled eyes, profound and vast,
and shining like you, Night, immense, above!
Their fires are of Trust, mixed with thoughts of Love,
that glitter in depths, voluptuous or chaste.
poem by Charles Baudelaire
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Hour of Twilight
When swallows and bats
gambol outside in flight,
with the moon hanging full and stars
are shining like bright beacons in the night,
some people are walking in the streets
to dance and gambol
at places where the bright lights are inviting.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Lord of power and strength
Lord of power and strength
that rules the universe,
created earth, planets, stars
with vast space into infinity,
in the sky and on earth
the great magic of Thy
works I see
and just but a speck I am
against Thy great immensity
and still I am dear to Thee.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Electric Light
When the great Bulwer's pen did trace
The history of the coming race
His hero to us he hath unfurled
The glories of his new found world.
This bold traveller be did venture
Far below our world's centre ;
He entered through an ancient mine
And to us doth new world define.
Once all was discord and fierce jars,
Continuous engaged in wars
Till they discovered great vrill power,
Then wars did cease from that same hour.
Mighty bolts from it were hurled ;
Would soon have laid waste the world ;
So for world's preservation
At once they stopped desolation.
All wars by them are now despised
Unfit for nation civilized ;
Their peaceful glories they do sing
And fly on artificial wing.
Great blazing artificial light
It ever burns both day and night,
For they have neither sun nor moon,
But radient, always 'tis high noon.
When we beheld the glorious sight,
High in the air did shine so bright ;
It seemed that it could banish night,
Great refulgent electric light.
But after all, 'tis children's play,
Compared with the great orb of day,
Or when the moon it doth shine bright,
And stars do beautify the night.
poem by James McIntyre
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Our Paranoia
the uncured disease of mankind had always been
that the earth is the center of the universe
that man is at the center of all these
that he is loved by the skies and the seas and the mountains
that i am the center of your attraction
or that i have loved you truly too
these are the demands of illusions
the sun is just one of the thousand stars
though it may be true that it is the center of our universe
that you may have loved me truly and i may think that i am the only
star in your universe
how hopeless can i be thinking that way
when the truth is just i am just a dust, a speck of this vast space of dusts
one night i stand in the middle of the grass and looked at the stars
i feel so far and so tiny just like Venus that planet that glitters in the north.
human love is as small as a grain of sand, yet somehow we imagine that
as a Saturn in the planetary system.
i am not saying the truth that indeed we are nothing but an empty sigh.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Why A World
WHY A WORLD
Why a world
So vast so violent so dark so empty
Why all this distance
With so little life?
Why we
In this narrow space of time
On this frail membrane of earth and air?
Why so much else?
And we
We alone
Dreaming of You
Praying to You
Loving You
Fearing You
Not really knowing You.
Why and why again
In this vast seemingly indifferent universe
Are we here?
poem by Shalom Freedman
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The night watchman
The fire in the holed drum burns bright
and I can see red coals flickering
like the shining stars up in the sky
and white teeth smiles at me
while I walk by
and the night watchman puffs at a cigarette
and with sharp eyes watches
from his black overcoat
as if nothing passes him
with one hand holding a baton
and somewhere up there
eternally a watchman guards
while the lights of his fires beacons the night
against the dark, against evil things.
[References: Nagwag (night watchman) by DJ Opperman and the nightwatchman by Fhazel Johennesse.]
poem by Gert Strydom
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Compensations
I: BLIND
When first the shadows fell, like prison bars,
And darkness spread before me, like a pall,
I cried out for the sun, the earth, the stars,
And beat the air, as madmen beat a wall,
Till, impotent, and broken with despair,
I turned my vision inward. Lo, a spark-
A light-a torch; and all my world grew bright;
For God's dear eyes were shining through the dark.
Then, bringing to me gifts of recompense,
Came keener hearing, finer taste, and touch;
And that oft unappreciated sense,
Which finds sweet odours, and proclaims them such;
And not until my mortal eyes were blind
Did I perceive how kind the world, how kind.
II: DEAF
I can recall a time, when on mine ears
There fell chaotic sounds of earthly life,
Shrill cries of triumph, and hoarse shouts of strife;
A medley of despairs, and hopes and fears.
Then silence came, and unavailing tears.
The stillness stabbed me, like a two edged-knife;
Until I found the Universe was rife
With subtle music of the neighbouring spheres.
Such harmonies, such congruous sweet chords,
Wherein each note conveys a healing balm.
And now no more I miss men's spoken words;
For, in a quiet world of larger thought,
I know the joy that comes from being calm.
III: SHUT-IN
Across my window glass
The moving shadows of the people pass.
Sometimes the shadows pause; and through the hall
Kind neighbours come to call,
Bringing a word or smile
To cheer my loneliness a little while.
But as I hear them talk,
These people who can walk
And go about the great green earth at will,
I wonder if they know the joy of being still,
And all alone with thoughts that soar afar-
High as the highest star.
And oft I feel more free
Than those who travel over land and sea.
For one who is shut in,
Away from all the outer strife and din,
With faithful Pain for guide,
Finds where Great Truths abide.
Across my window glass
The moving shadows pass.
But swifter moves my unimpeded thought,
Speeding from spot to spot-
Out and afar-
High as the highest star.
poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
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