Hymn Texts to a Welsh Meter - 1

By William Flewelling

Reading that the 2.88.888. hymn meter is considered powerful in Welsh hymnody - but that it is not used in English - I became curious. I tried the pattern out even though I initially could find no hymn tunes to that meter; indeed, it has not been used in English as my glance at my hymnals and online showed. So, I took my experience of hymn meters and the way this one was expressed and let the resonance begin to flow. It seemed to me that the meter did work in English, that it provided a powerful pattern and an inviting schema to express my own religious instincts and experience. I found a variety of stimuli for the texts, taken from scripture and other sources, put in my own medium and conveyed in the energies of the 2.88.888. hymn meter. Tunes were eventually discovered in a Welsh language hymnal, the 1929 hymnal of the Welsh Methodists.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Sep 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9781665538565

William Flewelling

I am a retired minister from the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) living in central Illinois. Led by a request from Mildred Corwin of Manua OH when I arrived there in 1976, I long developed and led a series of bible studies there and in LaPorte IN and New Martinsville WV. These studies proved to be very feeding to me in my pastoral work and won a certain degree of following in my congregations. My first study was on 1 Peter, chosen because I knew almost nothing about the book. I now live quietly in retirement with my wife of 54 years, a pair of dogs and several cats.

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1

Adore

Adore!

So suddenly immersed in life

beyond imagination’s ground –

so in abandon to delight

we find discovery provides

true satisfaction of desire.

Abrupt:

this moment on ascending flings

finds dervish splendors floating high.

So quickly is this instant shown

that in inclusion I aspire

as adoration shows us free.

Drawn near!

At last the stirring’s at the spark

igniting mystery, the Ark.

With passage on the fervent Deep,

the echo of God’s sounding voice

beguiles with geysers spouting joy.

In bliss:

O yes, in bliss do eyes arise

to see simplicity in grace.

While freshened in divine release,

desire exposed becomes the sight,

appearance of appearing love.

2.88.888

2

Come, Come

Come, come!

Assemble freely for the Lord

endows with fervor to enjoy.

Employ the ark of wonder here,

displayed in joy, abandon free

within the majesty of God.

Draw close:

begin to celebrate afresh

the greeting God arranges best.

Indeed, the hour of vision comes

to contemplate this beauty’s bliss

and learn the yearned for fair caress.

Include,

for God’s own utter joy has swept

into desire each sojourner.

Sincerely brought into such care,

we must greet each to each, the dare

of life sublime, with God our fare.

2.88.888

3

Consumed

Consumed –

to see the blaze, it must be so

and yet the leaves remain so green.

A simple pause, a turn aside,

then bare the feet for holy ground

and taste the evidence of awe.

Afire:

the flames alive dance to delight

what wonder breeds at midday fright.

Yet here we are, and everything

demands review; the voice impels

What I Will Be into the heart.

So seen,

we clamor to attest the face

in fire that dances round the bush.

For holy ground confounds desire

and broods in awe this teeming round

within contending holy fare.

Consumed –

the contrary dimension cleft

into the floundering at fright.

Insistent to the core, as stunned

by visitation – Who Will Be

what God shall be, the fast of awe.

2.88.888

4

Complete

Complete –

this ordinary means of pause

that lingers to adore completes.

Intent upon the mystery

engulfing daily fare, arise

in wonder, calculate in awe.

This seems –

it is the bold unfolding found

unfurled in lithe, exacting joy.

Begin this interweaving play

that dances round in unity,

the plaited three who twirls delight.

Imbued,

with instant instinct, aptitude

provided in this unbound joy.

Directly exquisite and pure

elaboration of desire,

the breath of God breathes life afresh.

At last,

this earnest to employ the soul

brings to the fore enjoyment’s store.

Forgetfulness extrudes the hour

in moments leveraged in hope

that all inhale this purity.

2.88.888

5

Lift, Lift

Lift! Lift!

The eyes, the heart, the hands to share

alive the canopy of hope.

Beyond compare, this taste sublime

stirs rich compassion to adore

the Price and Prize of burdened love.

Arise

that all may answer to the lode

of grace this Spirit laden day.

For Spirit circulates the soul

and echoes in the Deep bold moans

too deep for words yet truth alone.

Become

the offering in lieu of haste

that passes on the gift of grace.

Indeed it is the ram of pride

wrought humbly to the sacred side

that resonates with saving joy.

Enjoy.

Yes, certainly in full employ

you bring us, Lord, to laden joy.

All honor, all integrity

become the cruciform that hope

illumines, nurtures meaning’s core.

2.88.888

6

Behold

Behold.

I – in answering the poignant

approach, this dancing near to come.

You call and I must listen now

to hear the gleaning of desire,

the fullness of supreme delight.

Behold!

And so I hear the passing breath

that penetrates the moment borne.

And so I listen carefully

to silence to be felt, a live

insistence on the taste of awe.

Behold!

And so the echo registers

in depths I barely dare to guess.

O be my guest in this reserve,

the nurture of the Temple wrought

in spite of all that is so fraught.

Behold!

O wonder to be seen! I gaze

into capacities for dancing joy.

I follow in the merry way

wherein you satisfy in dance

the whirling majesty, pure awe!

2.88.888

7

With Awe

With awe:

Begin this interlude of peace

that reaps beginning wonder’s pause.

With origins in subtlety,

the brazen flash of brilliant life

begins to orient desire.

Adorn –

yet clothe the countenance in peace

that may yet satisfy wry ease.

And let me don your satiety

that will acquire a draping phase

to please in wonder that I thrive.

The wisp –

that winsome slip of passing cloud,

the slightest hint of answer run –

this wisp of wonder, cloak of hope

beguiles my understudy tones

whence awe articulates the Deep.

Of joy –

yes in the thrill of joying dance

the favored gigue takes every chance.

And in this bold allowance found

I am, O Lord, for love unbound,

enticed, entwined by heaven’s joy.

2.88.888

8

Surprise

Surprise:

The settled views on every turn

writhe in an unexpected Dawn.

Before the light emerges quite,

profound admissions wreathe delight

in unaccustomed figures posed

Delight

comes in the shattering of night,

as day confounds the griever’s plight.

Beyond the void, the emptiness,

abounds confronting form, a peace

abiding evermore: life comes.

Confused

when all lies in between the scenes

of vanished forms and sudden fright,

confusion lurks in shadows held

just long enough before the first

of light brings; ‘I have seen the Lord’.

Arise!

Beyond illusion of the past

and glimpse the wisp of joy in awe.

For, in this resurrection day,

confusion instigates a fray

until we come to heaven’s quay.

2.88.888

9

Lively

Lively,

this interlude left passionate

in your amazement, O my Lord.

And vibrant are these interplays

of vision and true subtlety

discovered in your lithe delight.

Furtive,

the mysteries that lure surprise

and catapult life into awe.

These balances, unbalanced yet,

survey impossibilities

become alive, incarnate-wise.

Intrigued

with wreathing of the breath of care

about this pause I barely dare:

so is the moment on desire

become the leverage of joy

that moves the earth at heaven’s ploy.

Alert,

so indescribable: to stand

and countenance the weary land.

I lean to readiness to taste

the kiss and know of supple bliss

that opens wide your gracious ply.

2.88.888.

10

Borne Up

Borne up

as if on eagles’ wings, aloft

through desert climes, brought near to God:

and why? I cannot say except

proclaimed delight, a passage free,

enticingly alluding joy.

Drawn near

in this exacting wilderness:

a barren land for caring hearts.

Torn free from agonies: allowed

to soar in elegant allure

unto the graciousness endowed.

Again,

again, impossibilities

are swept aside for ample grace.

And, in this aptitude of hope,

you, God, bring carefully your own

that we find satisfaction here.

So bold –

is this attention past our ken

that all is breathlessly alive.

Within this gathering you plea

our sudden comfort in your spell

as life transcends and savors well.

2.88.888.

11

Release

Release!

O time conflicted with despair,

incurably emerge in bloom!

Yes, in this courage-strained array

of faces, forces to assault,

you curry in the depths delight.

Aroused

within the dissonance at hand,

you, Lord, breed calm in seething souls.

How readily you integrate

the discontinuous around

to qualify receptive love.

At peace –

O yes, at peace inclusively

amid life’s tumult: here you hold.

Assuredly, this bold approach

insinuates a nascent calm

abiding in a breathless norm.

I watch:

the eye haunts dutifully the rash,

assumed despair that rages so.

Yet in