Faith of Our Fathers

By Daniel Zimmermann

This volume contains some of the early poems of Daniel Zimmermann. They give expression to Christian truths in beautiful language. Included are presentations of the law and the gospel, poems dealing with Christmas and other Christian festivals, and imaginative treatments of Christian philosophy and Christian life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jul 17, 2014
• ISBN: 9781312359758

Book preview

Faith of Our Fathers

Faith or Our Fathers

By Daniel Zimmermann

Dedicated to my lovely wife Merian

Copyright 1994 BY Daniel Zimmermann

INTRODUCTION

The faith of our fathers is unquestioning trust in the eternal, unchangeable truth that God has revealed in the Bible. But while the truth has not changed, language has, especially since the time when the King James Version was supplanted by more modern translations. 

The poetry of this volume uses King James idiom – the language in which our fathers used when quoting Scriptures.  This is one of the reasons for the title: Faith of Our Fathers.  Of course, the chief reason for the title is that the poetry expresses the Biblical truths in which our fathers believed.

While modern translations are useful for facilitating instruction in and understanding of the Bible, it would be tragic if the beauty of the King James Version were altogether lost to succeeding generations. It is hoped that this present work, with its exceptionally beautiful poetic treatment of Biblical themes in King James language, may spur renewed interest in this classic translation.

Acknowledgements: The King James Version and traditional Christian hymns have been quoted freely often without acknowledgement, since the source is usually self-evident. Equally self-evident are the sources of occasional quotations from the classics, as the line Man is the measure of all things which I incorporated in the poem entitled: The Song of the Humanist. Such quotations, almost always made from memory, may be adjusted slightly to accommodate the needs of the poem in which they occur, but I always took care not to altar the meaning of the original. 

Less self-evident is my debt to various musical compositions of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Schubert, Carissimi, etc.  Their music supplied not only the inspiration for individual poems, but often the meters employed.  For example, God’s Faithful Mercy was inspired by the first variation of the principal theme of the first movement of Mozart’s Sonata in A Major. Besides, purely instrumental themes, I occasionally gave a religious interpretation to secular vocal music, as for example when I used Mozart’s Voi che sapete as a pattern for the poem Smile on Thy Children.

Chapter I: Christian Life

An Invocation

O Lord, who makes the birds to sing,

Whose works proclaim Thy lasting fame,

Who plants the flowers every spring

And warms them with Thy Spirit’s flame, 

Oh, come and thaw my frigid soul!

Inspire my heart with thoughts of Thee.

Put to my lips a living coal

That they may praise Thee fervently.

Life

Father, as I strike my ballast,

Ranging far, I know not where,

Domes of watchful ozone shield me,

Ordered by Thy loving care.

Thou appointest nature’s magnet

To defend my life with love;

Cosmic harpies cannot wound me

As I greet the clouds above.

And Thou fill’st the clouds with meekness;

With my airborne craft they play.

Treat me to a cup of water,

Give themselves, and fade away.

Tropospheric winds abandon

All their fierce, unsteady tow,

And I rise on hopeful thermals,

Leashed to yield propitious flow.

Though I chart a course that’s hidden,

Though the heavens warp and bend,

Doves in chorus sing Thy promise:

"I will keep thee to the end.

The Derelict

There’s an empty lot in Nowhere

At the end of Nameless Street.

In the darkness after sunset

There’s no light to guide one’s feet;

And somehow, at dawn, at midday,

Even then the rays retreat.

Nothing stands within these precincts,

Sacred to the Great Unknown,

Save a Franklin stove, discarded;

No one claims it as his own;

So the weeds, they take possession

Till the damper’s overgrown.

It was built to comfort Father

In the cold of winter’s day

And to hasten busy Mother

With its active thermic ray,

While with rival warmth the children

Scored in energy at play.

But the vogue-enchanted household

In technology took pride;

And they scorned the humble flicker

That for them had never dided

Thus in name of mortal progress

Was God’s blessing cast aside.

To a Byzantine Portrait of the Infant Jesus

Holy Child, mature, yet tiny,

Stern in visage, like a judge,

Wilt Thou frown upon us sinners,

Bearing an eternal grudge?

Where’s the soft and gentle goodness,

Where’s the dulcet, loving heart

Captured by the brush of Raphael,

Brought to life in vivid art?

Cold Thou seemest, and unyielding,

Just like ice that will not thaw;

On Thy brow I read the sentence

Of Thy holy, changeless law.

Yet Thy tiny hand is lifted

(Tiny, but in form mature),

Giving us a man-sized blessing

That is able to endure.

Jesus Stills the Tempest

Deep within, my restless spirit,

Wakeful, with disquiet eyes,

Searches for a tranquil haven;

Round about, the tempest flies.

I have searched the paths of power;

Knowledge tended my commands;

Beauty b beckoned; novel vistas

Drew my soul to distant lands.

Restless still, I hear Thy summons,

Feel Thy  power in my breast,

As Thy voice dispels the tempest:

Come to Me, My friend, and rest.

Blessed Is He

God  is good;

God is love.

Blessed is he

That perceiveth.

See His face

Beam with grace.

Blessed is God,

Our Savior.

Man has failed;

Sin prevailed.

Blessed is he

That turneth

Smile on Thy Children

O loving Father, our Staff and Stay,

Smile on Thy children, who to Thee pray.

Let Thy care and loving-kindness

Keep them this day.

Bless all Thy children; shield them from harm.

Comfort their souls with Thy saving arm,

Lest the wiles of Satan fill them

With dread alarm.

Smile with compassion!  Let sorrow cease!

All Thy dear children from care release!

By Thy pity, grace, and mercy

Grant them Thy peace.

Then shall