Last week, I mentioned I’m working on poems based on Christian hymns that will be included in an upcoming book, Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs. My goal has been to write modern poems in which I poetically interact with a hymn rather than just rehashing it. Synthesizing and distilling the text of a hymn into new imagery has been a most rewarding challenge. So far, I’ve written 11 of these poems with a goal of 15.
Along the way, I’ve been surprised at which hymns inspire poems, as well as which parts of a hymn strike me. Some hymns are well known, but others I hadn’t heard of before starting this venture. Today’s poem is based on a well known hymn called “Softly and Tenderly.” I like Johnny Cash’s simple rendition: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CY7fMGtVyzQ. I remember being surprised by the imagery that came to me as I read this hymn. It was unexpected, but for me, it fit perfectly. See what you think.
Softly and Tenderly
It leaps to life
on the reflecting surface of limestone
and follows a blind, erratic path
along the canyon walls:
zig-zagging,
back-tracking,
skittering up toward swallows’ nests
or down to the riverbed,
jumping cliff to cliff until
it returns to the one who called
through cupped hands.
A Wandering Minstrel 