Poems (Meynell, 1921)/Messina, 1908

by Alice Meynell

 

MESSINA, 1908

LORD, Thou hast crushed Thy tender ones, o'erthrown
Thy strong. Thy fair; Thy man Thou hast unmanned,
Thy elaborate works unwrought, Thy deeds undone,
Thy lovely sentient human plan unplanned;
Destroyer, we have cowered beneath Thine own
Immediate, unintelligible hand.

Lord, Thou hast hastened to retrieve, to heal,
To feed, to bind, to clothe, to quench the brand,
To prop the ruin, to bless and to anneal;
Hast sped Thy ships by sea, Thy trains by land,
Shed pity and tears; our shattered fingers feel
Thy mediate and intelligible hand.