The Lord Is My Shepherd – 1 & 2

Greetings,

            In the 1920's the English poet Herbert E. Palmer wrote this interesting paraphrase.

I

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want,

            I lie down in his meadows so green,

I follow his led where the low winds chant

            By the softly stealing stream;

And I seek to obey whate’er he saith

            Because he is my Lord;

Though I grope through the Vale of the Shadow of Death

            He draws near me, my friend and adored.

For his rod and his staff are so comforting,

            Director, and comrade, and priest;

When my foemen are boasting and trumpeting

            He leads me awhile to his Feast.

O, surely his mercy and kindness

            Shall abide after seeing is dim!

He is everlasting divineness,

            I will house me in Him

II

Come, little David, come now down,

            Quit for awhile the skies;

Run through the streets of London Town,

            Lend unto all your eyes.

Come with the waters the angels quaff

            From the rivers beyond the moon,

Come with your bright harp and shepherding staff

            Soon . . . Soon!

                                                                (The Unknown Warrior and Other Poems, p. 69)

Yours & His,

DED