Look Up

Christian, lookup? thy feet may slide;
    This is a slippery way!
Yet One is walking by thy side
    Whose arm should be thy stay,
Thou canst not see that blessed form,
    Nor view that loving smile
With eager eyes thus earthward bent -
    Christian, look up a while!

Christian, look up! - what seest thou here
    To court thy anxious eyes?
Earth is beneath thee, lone and drear,
    Above, thy native skies!
Beneath, the wreck of faded bloom,
    The shadow, and the clod,
The broken reed, the open tomb, -
    Above thee, is THY GOD!

Look up! thy head too long has been
    Bowed darkly toward the earth,
Thou son of a most Royal Sire,
    Creature of kingly birth!
What! dragging like a very slave
    Earth's heavy galling chain, -
And struggling onward to the grave
    In weariness and pain?

What wouldst thou with this world? - thy home,
    Thy country is not here,
'Mid faded flowers, and perished bloom,
    And shadows dense and drear! -
Thy home is where the tree of Life
    Waves high its fruitage blest,
'Mid bowers with fadeless beauties rife, -
    Look up, and claim thy rest!

Pamela S. Vining (J. C. Yule)

Pamela S. Vining, also known by her pseudonym J. C. Yule, was an English poet whose work was recognized in the 19th century. Despite her significant contribution to English poetry, detailed information about her life, including her birth and death dates, remains elusive. She remains a noteworthy figure in the canon of English literature for her emotive and thought-provoking poetry.

Pamela S. Vining (J. C. Yule)

The Old Church Choir

Pamela S. Vining (J. C. Yule), Simple Poetry

The Ploughman

Pamela S. Vining (J. C. Yule), Simple Poetry

Till To-Morrow.

Pamela S. Vining (J. C. Yule), Simple Poetry

To Our Parents

Pamela S. Vining (J. C. Yule), Simple Poetry

English

Suggested Poems

Explore a curated selection of verses that share themes, styles, and emotional resonance with the poem you've just read.

Onward

Onward, still on! - though the pathway be dreary, -
    Though few be the fountains that gladden the way, -
Though the tired spirit grow feeble and weary,
    And droop in the heat of the toil-burdened day;
Green in the distance the hills of thy Canaan
    Lift their bright heads in a tenderer light,
Where the full boughs with rich fruits overladen
    Spread their luxurious treasures in sight.

Onward, still onward! - around us are falling
    Lengthening shadows as daylight departs;
Up from the past mournful voices are calling,
    Often we pause with irresolute hearts.
Wherefore look backward? - the flower thou didst gather
    Wounded thy hand with the thorn it concealed, -
Onward, and stay not! - the voice of thy Father
    Calls thee to glory and bliss u...

Pamela S. Vining (J. C. Yule)

Under The Rod

"Be Still, and know that I am God!"


Be silent, Soul! - though dark thy path and dreary,
    And wild with storm, yet what is that to thee?
Though thou art faint, and desolate, and weary,
    Thy God hath willed thus, - so let it be!
Murmurs the mountain oak when storms assail it,
    And warring tempests wildly shake its form?
Firmer within the earth its root it striketh,
    And gathers strength and vigor from the storm.

Be silent, Soul! - the hand of God is on thee!
    And, as a skillful gard'ner, from the vine
Doth lop away each worthless branch and barren,
    So He would lop each fruitless bough of thine.
Ah! thou art earth-bound, prone, and lowly creeping,
    clinging to things too frail to be thy stay;
Jesus, with watchful care His vineya...

Pamela S. Vining (J. C. Yule)

Somewhere

"For he looked for a city that hath foundations, whose Maker and Builder is God."


I.

Somewhere, I know, there waits for me
    A home that mocks the pomp of Earth,
Eye hath not seen its majesty,
    Nor heart conceived its priceless worth, -
Talk not of crystal, gems, or gold,
    Or towers that flame in changeless light,
Imagination, weak and cold,
    Faints far below the unmeasured height!
And through its open doors for aye,
    As ages after ages glide,
Without a moment's pause or stay,
    Flows grandly in the living tide -
Brothers, redeemed ones, pressing home
    From every clime, from every shore,
Beneath that fair celestial dome
    Meet to be parted nevermore!


II.

Somewhere, I know, there waits for ...

Pamela S. Vining (J. C. Yule)

The One Refuge.

I.

    Storms gather o'er thy path,
Christian! - the sullen, tempest-darkened sky
Grows lurid with the elemental wrath, -
    Say, whither wilt thou fly?

God is my Refuge! - let the tempests come,
They will but speed me sooner to my home!


II.

    Night lowers in sullen gloom,
Christian! - a long, dark night awaiteth thee,
Dreary as Egypt's night of fear and doom, -
    Where will thy hiding be?

God is my refuge! - in the dreary night
In Him I dwell, and have abundant light!


III.

    Thine is a lonely way,
Christian! - and dangers all thy path infest;
Pitfalls and snares crowd all thy doubtful way, -
    Where is thy place of rest?

God is my Refuge! - safe in Him I move,
And feel no...

Pamela S. Vining (J. C. Yule)

Longings

Sleep, gentle, mysterious healer,
    Come down with thy balm-cup to me!
Come down, O thou mystic revealer
    Of glories the day may not see!
For dark is the cloud that is o'er me,
    And heavy the shadows that fall,
And lone is the pathway before me,
    And far-off the voice that doth call -
        Faintly, yet tenderly ever,
            From over the dark river, call.

Let me bask for an hour in the sun-ray
    That wraps him forever in light;
Awhile tread his flowery pathway
    Through bowers of unfailing delight; -
Again clasp the hands I lost sight of
    In the chill mist that hung o'er the tide,
What time, with the pale, silent boatman,
    I saw him away from me glide -
        Out into the fathomless myst'ry,
            All s...

Pamela S. Vining (J. C. Yule)

Beyond The Shadows.

Thou hast entered the land without shadows,
    Thou who, 'neath the shadow, so long
Hast sat with thy white hands close-folded,
    And lips that could utter no song;
Through a rift in the cloud, for an instant,
    Thine eyes caught a glimpse of that shore,
And Earth with its gloom was forgotten,
    And Heaven is thine own evermore!

We see not the glorious vision,
    Nor the welcoming melodies hear,
That, from bowers of beauty Elysian,
    Float tenderly sweet to thine ear;
Round us, lie Earth's desolate midnight,
    Her winter-plains bare and untrod, -
Round thee, is the glad, morning sunlight
    That beams from the City of God!

Our eyes have grown heavy with weeping, -
    Thine, "the King in his beauty" behold
And thou leanest th...

Pamela S. Vining (J. C. Yule)