"I am Small and of no Reputation; Yet do I not Forget thy Commandments"
"I am Small and of no Reputation; Yet do I not Forget thy Commandments"
Original Text
Arthur Christopher Benson,
Lyrics (London: John Lane, 1895): 161. PR 4099 B5L8 Robarts Library.
Entitled "The Heart of God" in Selected Poems (London:
John Lane the Bodley Head, 1924): 32. PR 4099 B5S4 Robarts Library
1How small a thing am I, of no repute,
2 Whirled in the rush of these eternal tides;
3 Spun daily round upon this orb that rides
4Among its peers, itself how most minute!
5Yet as I muse in sad comparison,
6 Restless and frail, I thrill with sudden awe,
7 Clasped in the large embrace of life and law
8That, howsoe'er I falter, bear me on.
9 So should a drop within the sluggish vein
10 Of some vast saurian, (that slumbers deep
11In seas undreamed of, rolling through the swell)
12 In labyrinthine artery swim and creep,
13 Yet hear far off, again and yet again,
14The vasty heart beat in his central cell.
Publication Start Year
1895
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2001
Rhyme
Form