The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"To Fling His Soul"
My favorite poem, by Thomas Hardy, and a few thoughts to follow.
The Darkling Thrush
I leant upon a coppice gate, when frost was spectre gray,
and winter's dregs made desolate the weakening eye of day.
The tangled binestems scored the sky like strings of broken lyres,
and all mankind that haunted nigh
had sought their household fires.
The land's sharp features seemed to be
the Century's corpse outleant,
His crypt the cloudy canopy, the wind his death lament.
The ancient pulse of germ and birth was shrunken hard and dry,
and every spirit upon earth seemed fervorless as I.
At once a voice arose amid the bleak twigs overhead,
in a full-hearted evensong of joy illimited.
An ancient thrush, frail, gaunt and small, in blast beruffled plume,
had chosen thus to fling his soul upon the growing gloom.
So little cause for carolings, of such ecstatic sound,
was written on terrestrial things, afar or nigh around,
That I could think there trembled through
his happy good night air,
some blessed Hope whereof he knew, and I was unaware.
Hardy wrote "The Darkling Thrush" on December 31, 1899 as a lament to the closing century, and an expression of concern for times to come.
Little evidence exists that Hardy was a believer, although he seemed familiar with the Bible and its affirmation of "that blessed hope" of the Lord Jesus Christ's promised return (Titus 2:13). When I first discovered the poem many years ago, I thought it must have been written by a devoted Christian. Indeed, few literary characters more express the attitude of expectation to which God calls believers than the darkling thrush. "To fling his soul upon the growing gloom" portrays a vivid expression of the life of faith in the Lord Jesus. I love the darkling thrush, and long to follow his example - "to fling his soul upon the growing gloom."
I find it fascinating that one who did not strongly profess Christ could have written so powerful an image of trust amid "the growing gloom." Of course, God reveals much of Himself and His truth even in those who do not know Him. All exist in His creation, and all "live and move and have their being" in Him (Acts 17:28). Thus, all somehow serve His ultimate purposes, whether knowingly or not. Of the Lord Jesus and His incarnation, the Apostle John declared, "the Light shineth in darkness" (John 1:5). Such illumination continues as God reveals His light in and through those who refuse to respond to it themselves. "Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to Thee" (Psalm 139:12).
The darkling thrush calls born again believers in the Lord Jesus to see the Light that ever "shineth in darkness." We herald our Lord's hope - "that blessed Hope" - in a despairing world that places its confidence in false and doomed expectations. Our Heavenly Father calls us to fling our souls upon the growing gloom by personally rejoicing in the Lord Jesus, and by bearing witness to the reason for our song and testimony. "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so" (Psalm 107:2). Our Father sends us forth as fling our souls upon a lost and dying world. Hardy's thrush serves as a beautiful example of this high and holy calling, and as a testimony to the power of the risen Christ, who "giveth songs in the night" (Job 35:10).
"And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God."
(Acts 16:22-25)
Weekly Memory Verse
I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men.
(I Timothy 2:1)
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