Thursday, January 1, 2009

The Gate of the Year

This is a favorite poem of mine, and I share it with you.

The Gate of the Year

I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year
'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.'

And he replied, 'Go into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way!'

So I went forth and finding the Hand of God
Trod gladly into the night
He led me towards the hills
And the breaking of day in the lone east.

So heart be still!
What need our human life to know
If God hath comprehension?

In all the dizzy strife of things
Both high and low,
God hideth his intention

Written by Minnie Louise Haskins

I had only known the first 4 lines of the poem, and recently found the rest of the poem, although I do think the first 4 lines are the best.
Here is some more info I found about the author.

This poem was written in 1908 by Minnie Louise Haskins, an American
lecturer at the London School of Economics, who wrote as a hobby.
"Born on 12 May 1875, Minnie Louise Haskins... was a popular member of
LSE [London School of Economics and Political Science], retiring in
1939 but then reappointed a year later to continue until 1944...

She penned The Gate of the Year in 1908. It was privately printed and
circulated in a volume called The Desert... The Gate of the Year
caught the public interest when it was read to the nation by King
George VI soon after the outbreak of the Second World War. She was
reportedly profoundly astonished to hear her poem being read by the
King in his Christmas broadcast of 1939, and, according to LSE
records, gave royalties earned from subsequent interest in the poem to
charity. According to press reports, it was HM Queen Elizabeth The
Queen Mother who first introduced the poem to the King.
The Gate of the Year by Minnie Louise Haskins [was] read at The Queen
Mother's funeral on Tuesday 9 April [2002]."

2 comments:

  1. that's beautiful; thank you.
    m

    ReplyDelete
  2. Louise was English, rather than American, being born near Bristol to a local family. DH

    ReplyDelete