Heaven’s Air
Lord Jesus, God’s anointed Son,
Your robe of righteousness I wear,
for You, the Christ, the Holy One,
have rescued me from Satan’s snare.
One thing I ask—Lord, hear my prayer;
I bring to You my only plea:
Oh let me breathe of heaven’s air
til heav’n become a part of me.
Praise God! Redemption’s work is done,
nor could He think His Son to spare!
On earth, were I the only one,
He still would come and love declare
to such as I, though unaware
how humble is my pedigree—
until I see His glory rare,
and heav’n become a part of me.
Unto the throne I boldly run,
and cast on Him my every care.
Oh, woe is me, for I’m undone!
I should not fearless enter there,
but humbly my petitions share—
God’s honored by humility.
My Savior’s likeness I will bear
when heaven is a part of me.
O King of City built foursquare,
You are my life, my reveille;
my joy is full, beyond compare,
for heaven is a part of me!
“You are the air you breathe.” If so, then let me breathe heaven’s air.
Copyright © 2019 Abigail Gronway – All Rights Reserved
Welcome to my series, Incremental Poetry, where each week the featured poem will be one line longer than the one I share the week before. I have no idea how long I’ll keep this up, so we’ll just have to wait and see. Thank you for stopping by.
Scansion:
Ballade Stanza
also called Monk’s Tale stanza, for its use in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
Octave stanza, usually written in multiples
Length: 8, 16, 24, 32, 40… lines
Isosyllabic: 10 syllables per line
Rhyme scheme: ababbcbc
NOTE: I found multiple sources for my information. One source suggests that the last line repeats as a refrain in each stanza, and that the poem may end with an optional 4-line envoy (rhymed bcbC) which is addressed to a prince or other person of high degree. My poem follows this model.
Dark Side of the Moon 
I love the message of this poem and the way in which you were able to convey it poetically without forcing the rhyme scheme or the syllabic meter. It flowed naturally. Quite a challenge! Thank you for the notes explaining the poetic form. ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Jan. I’ve been trying to write some of the French forms presented in a book I have, and this theme seemed to fit the Ballade Stanza quite well. I heard the quote at church and immediately wanted to write about it. As a teacher, I can’t help but add the scansion notes at the end, a sort of passing the baton. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person