Service
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"Sir, I pray deliver this little book to my dear brother, Farrer, and tell him, he shall find in it a picture of the many spiritual conflicts that have passed betwixt my God and my soul, before I could subject mine to the will of Jesus, my master, in whose service I have now found perfect freedom."
George Herbert 1633
"In whose serviceI have now found perfect freedom,"He wrote afterHis MasterWrestled for a heart and blessesLadders to a Kingdom
A lesser heart mightStumbling, find, and, finding, liftHis mute despairTo a high chairOf sorrow and dirt (a child's right)Where heart-cries cross a drift,
Pilgrim's burdenFalls, heaviness in the chest,Things left undone,Still to be done,Fear cast out, and tasks lighten,Steps quicken, and there's rest
To be had I lose in my rushTo claimMy aim—I mean myself—caught in ambush—Forfeited—shot—with the gain:I have to taste againMy Sovereign's pain and reign. [End Page 252]
Greg Miller's poems have appeared in Image, Tikkun, Slate, and other journals. Rib Cage (2001), Iron Wheel (1998), and Watch (2009) were published by the University of Chicago Press, and Mississippi Sudan (2006) by Mercy Seat Press. George Herbert's "Holy Patterns": Reforming Individuals in Community, a scholarly study of the 17th century Anglican priest and poet, was published by Continuum Publishing (2007). milledg@millsaps.edu
