‘I am Alpha and Omega.' by Sheila Kaye-Smith
"I Am Alpha and Omega" is a devotional poem by Sheila Kaye-Smith addressed to God as Lord of Life and the Beginning, Lord of the New Birth, and Lord of the dancing April days of earth. The speaker asks whether Thou dost still bless the End even as Autumn's sour chills arrive and Summer faints and withers under tempests and the strangling grips of dearth. The speaker calls God the Lord of the world's morning, acknowledging that Thou canst bless birth-pangs and travail, having hallowed all such beginnings, but questions whether Thou canst also bless the turning to the wall of dying eyes and the panting slow distress of those who fear the clutch of Nothingness, asking again whether Thou dost still bless the End when Thy servants fall into death's cold deeps. The speaker then asks whether Thou canst bless the hour when love is dead. God is described as one who seeks the harmonies of new-strung lyres and is the guardian of new-kindled fires, yet the speaker wonders about the moment when the last of love's poor life is fled, its ashes scattered to the four winds, and the speaker's own charred soul creeps bleeding from the pyres, again asking whether Thou dost still bless the End. The poem answers that yea, Thou dost bless the End, for Thou hast sworn that Thou, Eternal, art the First and Last, Lord of the Future, and Thine too is the past. Thine is the night, O high priest of the dawn. As Alpha and Omega, both love new-born and love long dead are kept fast in Thy hands, and the speaker affirms that Thou dost bless the End. The final stanza declares that Thine are the shadows of the dropping night, the wastes of lonely moonless seas, and the wilted leaves of tossing Autumn trees. Thine are the faint cries and the slowly drowning sight of those who fight in the gulfs of darkness, and dead love sleeps upon Thy mighty knees, ever world without end.
By Sheila Kaye-Smith · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Religious Poetry, Metaphysical Poetry · 413 words
First lines
And dost Thou bless the end? O Lord of Life / And the Beginning, Lord of the New Birth, / Lord of the dancing April days of earth! / When the sour chills of Autumn winds are rife, / And Summer faints and withers in the strife / Of tempests and the strangling grips of dearth, / Dost Thou still bless the End?
O Lord of the world's morning! -- Thou canst bless, / Birth-pangs and travail -- Thou hast hallowed all -- / But canst Thou bless the turning to the wall / Of dying eyes? the panting slow distress / Of those who fear the clutch of Nothingness? / When into death's cold deeps Thy servants fall, / Dost Thou still bless the End?
What this Textopian page supports
‘I am Alpha and Omega.' is listed on Textopian as a poem by Sheila Kaye-Smith, dated Date unknown.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Sheila Kaye-Smith
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Religious Poetry, Metaphysical Poetry, Elegiac Poetry, Devotional Poetry
- Length: 413 words
- Structure: 1 section, 5 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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- Work identity for ‘I am Alpha and Omega.' by Sheila Kaye-Smith
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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Genres
- Lyric Poetry — The poem expresses profound personal emotion and spiritual contemplation through musical, rhythmic verse exploring inner states regarding death, love, and divine blessing.
- Religious Poetry — Centered on Christian theology, explicitly invoking God as 'Alpha and Omega' and exploring themes of divine blessing, eternity, and the eternal nature of the Divine.
- Metaphysical Poetry — Engages with abstract philosophical and theological concepts including mortality, eternity, the nature of existence, and the relationship between the human soul and the divine.
- Elegiac Poetry — Contains strong elegiac elements expressing grief and mourning, particularly in the meditation on dead love and the loss of life's vitality.
Tags
religious-fiction · spiritual-awakening · moral-inquiry · philosophical-fiction · character-driven · british-literature · early-20th-century · countryside-setting · introspection · faith-and-doubt · self-discovery · existential-themes