Poetry Day - There comes an hour

I had a moment with Emily Dickinson the other evening. I have her Complete Poems, all 1775 of them, and there are treasures unplumbed within it.

From what I can ascertain of the poems I have read she had a fraught relationship with God. Poems in which He is the subject veer from submission to defiance and everything in between.

But I did appreciate this one:

There comes an hour when the begging stops,

When the long interceding lips

Perceive their prayer is vain.

"Thou shalt not" is a kinder sword

Than from a disappointing God

"Disciple, call again."

Emily Dickinson

Just for the record, I don't read this as God himself being disappointing, but God disappointing her prayer. It was interesting to ponder this poem in view of last week's sermon on Hannah and her persistent prayers. For sure, there are things to be learnt in the waiting and persistence. Still, uncertainty is difficult, and sometimes even a definite negative gives relief (see also this poem of Dickinson's If You Were Coming in the Fall, that I have blogged previously).