If thou wouldst have me speak, Lord, give me speech,
So many cries are uttered now-a-days,
That scarce a song, however clear and true,
Will thread the jostling tumult safe, and reach
The ears of men buz-filled with poor denays:
Barb thou my words with light, make my song new,
And men will hear, or when I sing or preach.
Geroge Macdonald was not a blogger, but in Diary of an Old Soul, he wrote a poem for each day of the year. Most of the poems are prayers or reflections on his relationship with God. Oh, I do pray that at least some of my words on this blog would be “barbed with light.”
Speaking of light, I found this painting by poet William Blake at the Web Gallery of Art. It’s called The Book of Job: When the Morning Stars Sang Together. I think it’s OK for me to reproduce it here, since it’s for personal and educational use.
The word “denay” is not in my dictionary. Anyone?
The Poetry Friday round-up is at Mentor Texts and More today.
According to the OED, “denay” is an archaic version of “deny” – I have cut & pasted the entry below:
Also denay(e.
Act of denying.
1. Denial, contradiction of a statement; negation.
1535 JOYE Apol. Tindale (Arb.) 6 The Saduceis in denying the lyfe aftir this, denied by the same denye but only those two.
2. Refusal (of what is asked, offered, etc.).
It sounds to me like a Scottish variation of DENY, or maybe just old. Yeah, Darla, archaic. I didn’t find it in the first online dictionary, but then I googled and found this…
The Free Dictionary online says:
De`nay´
v. t. 1. To deny.
That with great rage he stoutly doth denay. – Spenser.
n. 1. Denial; refusal.
I love words, even love looking them up and puzzling out what they may be. Often, saying a word out loud helps me figure out what it sounds like, as in this case.