How the Soul Comes, through Faith, to Things Invisible
THROUGH these two eyes set in my head,Daylight transmits, and pencils clearWithin my mind, the image here,Of each corporeal thing.
So with these eyes set in my head,I see the Sacrament divineShown by the priest, and visibleAs Bread from out the altar shrine.But by the mystic light of faith,Other the vision that is mine,Eyes of my mind behold it shine,My mind, whose power is reasoning.
Four of my senses say to me:"This that thou seest is simple bread."-Yea, all save Hearing are deceived,Nor can they enter, and be fed.For lo! beneath these visible formsStands Christ, hid deep in lowlihead,And to the soul, O mystery dread!He gives Himself for nourishing.
And dost thou ask, " How can this be?"By reason wouldst thou see, and show?And wouldst thou force the Power divineIn reason's narrow yoke to go?He for His pleasure made the heavens,Unquestioned:—yet thy queries flow,The secret of this Act to know,Though swift it be in vanishing.
Come, with the staff of faith, approachThis mystery thou canst not see ;Come to this holy Sacrament,In confidence and certainty ;For Christ, who hides Himself therein,His sweet goodwill bestows on thee,And knits thee to this mystery—This grace that He is offering.
Our holy Church shall be the court,Wherein these nuptials shall be made:Then come to her obediently,In faith she'll cloak thee, undismayed:She will present thee to thy Lord,His bride, beloved and unafraid ;Thy wedded soul, in faith arrayed,Shall hear new songs around her ring.
And here a wondrous love is formed,A love of God invisible:And that He grieves at every sin,The soul not sees, but feels full well.Yea, miracle is infinite!—A Heaven is made of deepest Hell:And frenzied love her grief must tellFor bygone days of wandering.
O evil life that I have led,In worldly revel and repose!O life all fetid and diseased!O mire, that tor my couch I chose!I scorned the heavenly lite—l scornedThe sweetness of that Fragrant Rose:—Now I must bear these bitter throes,And mourn with cruel sorrowing.
O evil life that I have led!Ungrateful, haughty, cruel, base!Scorning the fair and heavenly life,And hateful to the God of grace.I broke His statutes:—from His wordI turned away my stubborn face;Yet hath He saved me from the placeOf Hell's eternal perishing.
O soul of mine, what wilt thou do?How canst thou bear thine evil past?My sins were neither jest nor sport ;Corrupt I was from first to last.Yea, tears and sighs shall be my meat,Behold me mourning and aghast,My thanklessness to God, how vast!How great my guilt and trespassing!
Lord, though I see thee not, I knowThat Thou hast changed me utterly;My love of Earth Thou hast destroyed,That my desire to Heaven may be:I see Thee not, O Giver fair ;It is Thy gift I touch and see,That curbs my flesh, and sets it freeFrom all its taint and sullying.
O Chastity, what power is here,That makes so fair thy lovely face?This light, that makes me wise and pure,Whence comes it, from what hidden place ?It cometh from the Lord of light,It breathes His sweetness and solace ;It is no dream, this healing grace,Blown through our souls for strengthening.
O Poverty, what power is here,That makes me love thee now so well?For to mine ears, in days gone by,Thy very name was horrible.More grievous far than fever-fires,Thine image made my heart rebel ;But, now, beneath thy tender spell,I long for thy sweet fostering.
Come, see a miracle! for nowMy neighbour to my heart is dear;The very thought of harm to him,Fills me with trouble and with fear.How easily I can forgiveThe injury or bitter sneer!Nor is this all,—with heart sincere,A fervent love to him I bring.
Come, see a miracle! for nowShames and dishonours I can bear ;Those things that ever, in the past,My burdens and my torments were:But now, when I am scorned and mocked,My heart is glad, without a care:I am made one with God, and thereFast to His sweet embrace I cling.
O lucent Faith, so clear, so pure!Through thee alone these fruits I gain.O blest the day, and blest the hourWhen I believed thy teaching plain!And this the pledge, that into heavenShall draw me with resistless rein ;For, taught by thee, my heart is fainTo love thy fair inheriting.
Words in this poem 23
- daylight n.
- The light of day as opposed to the darkness of night; the light of the sun, as opposed to that of the moon or to artificial light.
- sacrament n.
- The oath of allegiance taken by Roman soldiers; hence, a sacred ceremony used to impress an obligation; a solemn oath-taking; an oath. [L. sacramentum an oath, a sacred thing, a mystery, a sacrament, fr. sacrare to declare as sacred, sacer sacred: cf. F. sacrament. See Sacred.]
- unquestioned a.
- Not called in question; not doubted.
- knits n.
- Small particles of ore. Raymond. [Prob. same word as nit a louse's egg.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- obediently adv.
- In an obedient manner; with obedience.
- wedded a.
- Joined in wedlock; married.
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
- bygone n.
- Something gone by or past; a past event.
- ungrateful a.
- Not grateful; not thankful for favors; making no returns, or making ill return for kindness, attention, etc.; ingrateful. South.
- haughty a.
- High; lofty; bold. [OE. hautein, F. hautain, fr. haut high, OF. also halt, fr. L. altus. See Altitude.]
- hateful a.
- Manifesting hate or hatred; malignant; malevolent.
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- jest n.
- A deed; an action; a gest. [OE. jeste, geste, deed, action, story, tale, OF. geste, LL. gesta, orig., exploits, neut. pl. from L. gestus, p. p. of gerere to bear, carry, accomplish, perfor]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- giver n.
- One who gives; a donor; a bestower; a grantor; one who imparts or distributes.
- solace n.
- Comfort in grief; alleviation of grief or anxiety; also, that which relieves in distress; that which cheers or consoles; relief. [OF. solas, ssoulaz, L. solacium, solatium, fr. solari to comfort, console. Cf. Console, v. t.]
- rebel a.
- Pertaining to rebels or rebellion; acting in revolt; rebellious; as, rebel troops. [F. rebelle, fr. L. rebellis. See Rebel, v. t.]
- neighbour v. i.
- To dwell in the vicinity; to be a neighbor, or in the neighborhood; to be near.
- fervent a.
- Hot; glowing; boiling; burning; as, a fervent summer. [F. fervent, L. fervens, -entis. p.pr. of fervere o the boiling hot, to boil, glow.]
- lucent a.
- Shining; bright; resplendent. [L. lucens, p. pr. of lucere to shine, fr. lux, lucis, light.]
- resistless a.
- Having no power to resist; making no opposition.
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
How the Soul Comes, through Faith, to Things Invisible is in the public domain. This text is taken from Jacopone da Todi, Poet and Mystic, 1228-1306: A Spiritual Biography, with a Selection from the Spiritual Songs, Internet Archive, the Mrs. Theodore Beck translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Jacopone da Todi, How the Soul Comes, through Faith, to Things Invisible, in The Lauds (1919), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/jacopone-lauds/how-the-soul-comes-through-faith-to-things-invisible.html, id L27095.
Form and metre
How the Soul Comes, through Faith, to Things Invisible is 124 lines in 16 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -AA- head · clearA · hereA · thing
- 2 -A-A-AA- head · divineA · visible · shrineA · faith · mineA · shineA · reasoning
- 3 -A-A-AA- me · breadA · deceived · fedA · forms · lowliheadA · dreadA · nourishing
- 4 -A-A-AA- be · showA · divine · goA · heavens · flowA · knowA · vanishing
- 5 -A---A-- approach · seeA · sacrament · certainty · therein · theeA · mystery · offering
- 6 -A-A-AA- court · madeA · obediently · undismayedA · lord · unafraidA · arrayedA · ring
- 7 -A-A-AA- formed · invisibleA · sin · wellA · infinite · hellA · tellA · wandering
- 8 -A-A-AA- led · reposeA · diseased · choseA · scorned · roseA · throesA · sorrowing
- 9 -A-A-AA- led · baseA · life · graceA · word · faceA · placeA · perishing
- 10 -A-A-AA- do · pastA · sport · lastA · meat · aghastA · vastA · trespassing
- 11 ---A-AA- know · utterly · destroyed · beA · fair · seeA · freeA · sullying
- 12 -A-A-AA- here · faceA · pure · placeA · light · solaceA · graceA · strengthening
- 13 -A-A-AA- here · wellA · by · horribleA · fires · rebelA · spellA · fostering
- 14 -A-A-AA- now · dearA · him · fearA · forgive · sneerA · sincereA · bring
- 15 -A---AA- now · bearA · past · were · mocked · careA · thereA · cling
- 16 -A-AAAA- pure · gainA · hour · plainA · heavenA · reinA · fainA · inheriting
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| THROUGH these two eyes set in my head, | 8 | ········ |
| Daylight transmits, and pencils clear | 8 | /·˘/·/˘· |
| Within my mind, the image here, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of each corporeal thing. | 7 | ··˘/˘˘· |
| So with these eyes set in my head, | 8 | ········ |
| I see the Sacrament divine | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| Shown by the priest, and visible | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| As Bread from out the altar shrine. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But by the mystic light of faith, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Other the vision that is mine, | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Eyes of my mind behold it shine, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| My mind, whose power is reasoning. | 9 | ···/˘·/˘˘ |
| Four of my senses say to me: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| "This that thou seest is simple bread."- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Yea, all save Hearing are deceived, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Nor can they enter, and be fed. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| For lo! beneath these visible forms | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Stands Christ, hid deep in lowlihead, | 8 | ········ |
| And to the soul, O mystery dread! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| He gives Himself for nourishing. | 8 | ··˘/·/˘˘ |
| And dost thou ask, " How can this be?" | 8 | ········ |
| By reason wouldst thou see, and show? | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And wouldst thou force the Power divine | 8 | ·····/˘/ |
| In reason's narrow yoke to go? | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| He for His pleasure made the heavens, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Unquestioned:—yet thy queries flow, | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| The secret of this Act to know, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Though swift it be in vanishing. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Come, with the staff of faith, approach | 8 | ······˘/ |
| This mystery thou canst not see ; | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Come to this holy Sacrament, | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| In confidence and certainty ; | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘˘ |
| For Christ, who hides Himself therein, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| His sweet goodwill bestows on thee, | 8 | ··//˘/·· |
| And knits thee to this mystery— | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| This grace that He is offering. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Our holy Church shall be the court, | 8 | //˘····· |
| Wherein these nuptials shall be made: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Then come to her obediently, | 9 | ····˘/˘˘˘ |
| In faith she'll cloak thee, undismayed: | 8 | ·······˘ |
| She will present thee to thy Lord, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| His bride, beloved and unafraid ; | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| Thy wedded soul, in faith arrayed, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Shall hear new songs around her ring. | 8 | ········ |
| And here a wondrous love is formed, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A love of God invisible: | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| And that He grieves at every sin, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The soul not sees, but feels full well. | 8 | ········ |
| Yea, miracle is infinite!— | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘˘ |
| A Heaven is made of deepest Hell: | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| And frenzied love her grief must tell | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| For bygone days of wandering. | 8 | ·/···/˘˘ |
| O evil life that I have led, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| In worldly revel and repose! | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| O life all fetid and diseased! | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| O mire, that tor my couch I chose! | 8 | ········ |
| I scorned the heavenly lite—l scorned | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The sweetness of that Fragrant Rose:— | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Now I must bear these bitter throes, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And mourn with cruel sorrowing. | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| O evil life that I have led! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Ungrateful, haughty, cruel, base! | 8 | ˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| Scorning the fair and heavenly life, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| And hateful to the God of grace. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I broke His statutes:—from His word | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I turned away my stubborn face; | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Yet hath He saved me from the place | 8 | ········ |
| Of Hell's eternal perishing. | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘˘ |
| O soul of mine, what wilt thou do? | 8 | ········ |
| How canst thou bear thine evil past? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| My sins were neither jest nor sport ; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Corrupt I was from first to last. | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Yea, tears and sighs shall be my meat, | 8 | ········ |
| Behold me mourning and aghast, | 8 | ˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| My thanklessness to God, how vast! | 8 | ········ |
| How great my guilt and trespassing! | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Lord, though I see thee not, I know | 8 | ········ |
| That Thou hast changed me utterly; | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| My love of Earth Thou hast destroyed, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| That my desire to Heaven may be: | 8 | ··˘/·/·· |
| I see Thee not, O Giver fair ; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| It is Thy gift I touch and see, | 8 | ········ |
| That curbs my flesh, and sets it free | 8 | ········ |
| From all its taint and sullying. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| O Chastity, what power is here, | 8 | ·/˘˘·/·· |
| That makes so fair thy lovely face? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| This light, that makes me wise and pure, | 8 | ········ |
| Whence comes it, from what hidden place ? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| It cometh from the Lord of light, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| It breathes His sweetness and solace ; | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| It is no dream, this healing grace, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Blown through our souls for strengthening. | 9 | ··/˘··/˘˘ |
| O Poverty, what power is here, | 8 | ·/˘˘·/·· |
| That makes me love thee now so well? | 8 | ········ |
| For to mine ears, in days gone by, | 8 | ········ |
| Thy very name was horrible. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| More grievous far than fever-fires, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Thine image made my heart rebel ; | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| But, now, beneath thy tender spell, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I long for thy sweet fostering. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Come, see a miracle! for now | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| My neighbour to my heart is dear; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The very thought of harm to him, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Fills me with trouble and with fear. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| How easily I can forgive | 8 | ·/˘˘··˘/ |
| The injury or bitter sneer! | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| Nor is this all,—with heart sincere, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| A fervent love to him I bring. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Come, see a miracle! for now | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Shames and dishonours I can bear ; | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Those things that ever, in the past, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| My burdens and my torments were: | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| But now, when I am scorned and mocked, | 8 | ········ |
| My heart is glad, without a care: | 8 | ········ |
| I am made one with God, and there | 8 | ········ |
| Fast to His sweet embrace I cling. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| O lucent Faith, so clear, so pure! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Through thee alone these fruits I gain. | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| O blest the day, and blest the hour | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| When I believed thy teaching plain! | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| And this the pledge, that into heaven | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Shall draw me with resistless rein ; | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| For, taught by thee, my heart is fain | 8 | ········ |
| To love thy fair inheriting. | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
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