title: Cries of Earth and Altar: Poems That Couldn't Be Helped
author: Charles L. Bartow
description: ''These poems reveal the deep yearning that lies beneath the veneer. They could have been written only by a pastor like Charles Bartow who spent his life searching for the holy in the lives of those around him.''<br>--M. Craig Barnes, President, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ<br><br>&#34;The power of poetry lies in its ability to give voice to the mystical, magical, everlasting world beyond our knowing, and in these pages, Charles Bartow does just that for the reader, crafting a liturgical calendar of faith that speaks to the heart of humankind. Filled with questioning, wondering, remembering, and imagining, these prayerful poems speak to the enormity of our faith and the intensity of our lives.&#34;<br>--Kathleen Moore, Poet Laureate, San Ramon, CA<br><br>''Scholar, teacher, poet-preacher Charles L. Bartow offers the refreshing gift of a liturgical poesis that weds poetry and preaching to doxology, showing us once again that he is more than a poet or preacher; he is a doxologian, a contemporary psalmist attune to the cries of praise and lament rising from the earth to God's cruciform altar. This theo-poetic offering will strangely warm every reader's heart during every season of life. Enter this poetic liturgy at your own risk because these words will usher you to the throne of God.''<br>--Luke A. Powery, Associate Professor of the Practice of Homiletics, Duke University, Durham, NC<br><br>''Charles Bartow is a broad-shouldered poet whose words not only fly up but sink down in. He is concerned with the stuff and range of real life. Snaking rhythms move the manly words and lacy images. Air-filled but not airy, polished but not varnished, this is poetry you can take to the pulpit or the hospital as easily as the park bench. Whether it is grief or hunger that drives you to the poetry shelf, you will find an answering voice here.''<br>--Jana Childers, Dean of the Seminary, San Francisco Theological Seminary, San Anselmo, CA --Wipf and Stock Publishers
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  # A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  "Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass,
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Amy Lowell
  
  
  
  
  
  Stains the white radiance of Eternity."
  
  
  Shelley, "Adonais".
  
  
  "Le silence est si grand que mon coeur en frissonne,
  
  
  Seul, le bruit de mes pas sur le pave resonne."
  
  
  Albert Samain.
  
  
  
  
  
  ###  Lyrical Poems
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Before the Altar
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Before the Altar, bowed, he stands  
  
  
  With empty hands;  
  
  
  Upon it perfumed offerings burn  
  
  
  Wreathing with smoke the sacrificial urn.  
  
  
  Not one of all these has he given,  
  
  
  No flame of his has leapt to Heaven  
  
  
  Firesouled, vermilion-hearted,  
  
  
  Forked, and darted,  
  
  
  Consuming what a few spare pence  
  
  
  Have cheaply bought, to fling from hence  
  
  
  In idly-asked petition.  
    
  
  
  His sole condition  
  
  
  Love and poverty.  
  
  
  And while the moon  
  
  
  Swings slow across the sky,  
  
  
  Athwart a waving pine tree,  
  
  
  And soon  
  
  
  Tips all t