A poem by Torsten Schwanke
Chapter 6
Hear, O ye kings, and learn to understand;
Listen, ye judges of the farthest land!
Give ear, you rulers who command the crowd,
Who lord it over nations great and proud!
For sovereignty is granted from on high;
The Lord of hosts beholds you from the sky.
He shall examine every work you deed,
And scrutinize the counsels you decree.
Though ministers of His celestial reign,
You did not judge with justice or maintain
The sacred laws, nor walk within His sight,
Pursuing paths of holiness and right.
Swiftly and terribly He shall descend;
A fierce judgment shall the great attend.
For to the lowly, mercy may be shown,
But heavy trials strike the monarch's throne.
The Lord of all no partiality knows,
Nor fears the grandeur that the mighty shows;
For great and small were fashioned by His hand,
And equal care He provides for every land.
Yet strict inquiry waits for those who rule.
To you, O princes, in the spirit's school,
I speak these words, that wisdom you may gain,
Lest you should fall, and all your power wane.
For they who keep His holy precepts pure
Shall be found holy, and their souls secure;
And they well-versed in what His laws command
Will find a ready answer close at hand.
Desire my words, and long for what I teach;
Instruction shall belong to all who reach.
Resplendent, unfading, Wisdom stands in light,
Perceived by those who love her guiding sight,
And easily found by those who seek her trace;
She hastens to reveal her shining face.
Who wakes at dawn to find her will rejoice,
For at his gates she sits to hear his voice.
To fix the heart on her is prudence gained;
Who watches for her wakes with care restrained.
She roams the earth to find the worthy mind,
And meets them graciously, and proves most kind.
The first step to her grace is discipline—
An earnest wish to let her work begin;
The care for discipline is love refined,
And love protects the laws she has designed.
To keep her laws ensures the soul is pure,
Making us close to God, intact, secure.
Thus the desire for Wisdom leads the soul
To gain a kingdom and a crown made whole.
If throne and scepter cause your hearts to sing,
Honor her well, that you may reign as king.
What Wisdom is, and how she came to birth,
I shall declare to all who dwell on earth.
No secret mysteries will I conceal,
But from the start her origin reveal.
I shall bring forth the light of truth to view,
And never from her path diverge anew.
Nor shall consuming jealousy find space
To walk with me, or take a comrade's place;
For envy cannot share in Wisdom’s grace.
A multitude of wise men brings release,
To shield the world and guide it into peace;
A prudent king preserves the nation's might—
So take my words, and walk within the light.
Chapter 7
I, too, am mortal, born of earthly dust,
Like all who live and die because they must;
A son of him who first from clay was made,
Within the womb a fragile flesh arrayed.
Ten months of blood and secret nature's art
Combined with joy to form my human heart.
And when I breathed the common air of earth,
I fell upon the ground that gave me birth;
With wailing cry, as all infants begin,
I shared the common voice of human kin.
In swaddling clothes, with anxious, tender care,
I was sustained, a weak and helpless heir.
No king enjoys a different birth or line;
One entry leads to life, and one design
Of death awaits, when fleeting years decline.
Therefore I prayed, and prudence filled my mind;
I pleaded, and the spirit was assigned:
The light of Wisdom came to guide my way.
I prized her more than scepters or display
Of royal thrones; and riches seemed as naught,
Compared to that great jewel which I sought.
No priceless gem could match her glorious worth,
For gold is sand beside her on the earth,
And silver is but mire within her sight.
Beyond all health and beauty, or the light
Of radiant suns, I loved her evermore,
Because her shining beam knows no dark shore.
Yet with her came all other goods to grace,
And countless riches followed in her pace.
I joyed in all, for Wisdom led the way,
Though then I knew not that she bore them all today.
Sincerely did I learn, and ungrudgingly share;
I do not hide her treasures rich and rare.
For she remains a treasury complete,
Where man and God in holy friendship meet;
Commended by the gifts her discipline brings,
She lifts the soul above all earthly things.
May God now grant I speak as fits her grace,
And value gifts that time cannot erase.
For He directs the wise, and He will guide
The paths of Wisdom where the true abide.
For in His hand are we, and all our speech,
With every craft and prudence we can reach.
He gave me knowledge of the things that are:
The world's design, the course of sun and star,
The elements, their power and their force,
The start, the end, the middle of time's course.
The turning seasons and the changing sun,
The cycles which the circling years have run;
The beasts, their tempers, and the living kind,
The rush of winds, the thoughts of human mind;
The use of plants and virtues of the root—
Whatever is hidden, or bears open fruit,
I learned it all, for Wisdom taught it me,
The artisan of all reality.
For in her dwells a spirit sharp and bright,
Intelligent and holy, swift as light;
Unique, yet manifold, both subtle, clear,
Unharmed, certain, holding goodness dear;
Keen, unhampered, kind, beneficent,
Secure and firm, with tranquil power blent;
All-powerful, all-seeing, she pervades
Each holy spirit in the mortal shades.
For Wisdom moves beyond all motion known,
And by her purity penetrates every zone.
She is the breath of God's almighty might,
A pure emanation of His glory bright;
No defiled thing can enter her domain,
Nor cast upon her purity a stain.
She is the mirror of eternal glow,
The image of His goodness here below.
Though she is one, her power can do all,
Renewing everything on this earthly ball.
From age to age, she enters holy minds,
To fashion friends of God and prophets kind.
For God loves none but those who make their seat
With Wisdom, in her sanctuary sweet.
She outshines the sun and every starry sign,
Compared to light, her splendors more divine;
For night succeeds the day when it is spent,
But evil cannot shake her firm ascent.
Chapter 8
Indeed, she spans the world from end to end,
And all things well her mighty arms defend.
Her I have loved and sought for from my youth;
I longed to take her for my bride in truth,
Enamored of the beauty she displays.
She adds nobility to all her ways
By sharing the companionship of God;
The Ruler of the cosmos, where she trod,
Has loved her well. For she instructs the mind
In understandings of a holy kind,
And chooses what the Great Creator wrought.
If riches in this fleeting life are sought,
What greater wealth than Wisdom can there be,
Who fashions all things by her own decree?
And if the hand of prudence is at work,
Where does a better, finer artisan lurk?
Or if a man should love the righteous path,
Whose works are virtues breaking sinful wrath,
She teaches moderation's gentle school,
With prudence, justice, and the valiant rule of courage;
Nothing more useful can a mortal find
To grace the life and spirit of mankind.
Or if for wide experience one should yearn,
She knows the things of old, and can discern
The times to come; she solves the secret phrase,
And unravels riddles in their dark arrays;
Signs, wonders, and the seasons yet to fly,
She knows before they break across the sky.
So I resolved to bring her to my side,
To let her deep within my home abide,
Knowing that she would counselor become
When fortune smiled upon my earthly home,
And be my comfort in the hours of care,
When grief and sorrow seemed too great to bear.
Because of her, the crowds shall give me praise,
And elders grant esteem to crown my days,
Though I am young. In judgment I shall shine,
And rulers marvel at this mind of mine.
They will keep vigil while my lips are sealed,
And listen when my counsels are revealed;
And when I speak at length, they all shall stand
In solemn silence, with a muted hand.
Because of her, I shall not yield to die,
But win an immortality on high,
And leave an everlasting memory clear
To those who follow after my career.
I shall govern peoples, make the nations bow;
Tyrannical princes, hearing of my vow,
Will shake with fear; yet in the judgment seat
And in the war, my glory is complete.
When I return into my house to rest,
I shall repose beside her, truly blest;
For her companionship holds no bitter sting,
And living with her can no sorrow bring,
But only joy and gladness like the spring.
Reflecting on these things within my mind,
And considering that the human kind
Finds immortality when safely wed
To kindred Wisdom, where the soul is led,
I saw great pleasure in her love confessed,
And endless riches where her hands have blessed.
I saw that prudence shines when she is near,
And noble fame attends her discourse clear;
So round I went, and sought by every art
To take her as the partner of my heart.
Now, I was favored as a child from birth,
And came by a noble nature to the earth;
Or rather, being noble in my soul,
I attained a body beautiful and whole.
Yet knowing that I could not hold her fast
Unless the Lord should grant the gift at last—
And this, too, was a sign of prudence bright,
To know whose favor brought her to my sight—
I turned unto the Lord with all my might,
And prayed with all my heart to grant her light.
Chapter 9
O God of ancestors, and Lord of grace,
Who made all things in majesty and space
By Thy great Word; and by Thy Wisdom's hand
Established human kind to rule the land,
To govern all the creatures made by Thee,
And rule the world in holy equity;
To render judgment with a heart upright,
And execute decrees within Thy sight:
Give me that Wisdom, who in glory sits
Beside Thy throne, and never from Thee quits.
Oh, do not cast me out, or block my name
From among the children who Thy promise claim!
For I am but Thy servant, bound to Thee,
The child of Thine own handmaid, weak and free;
A short-lived mortal, fragile in my frame,
Too small to understand Thy law or name.
Indeed, though one be perfect in his ways
Among the sons of men through all their days,
If Wisdom, coming from Thy side, be gone,
He counts for nothing when the day is done.
Thou hast selected me to reign as king,
And over Thine own sons just judgment bring.
Thou badest me to build a temple high
Upon Thy mountain, reaching to the sky,
An altar in Thy chosen dwelling place—
A copy of the tent of ancient grace.
With Thee is Wisdom, who Thy labor knows,
Who stood beside Thee when the world arose;
She understands what pleases in Thine eyes,
And what conforms to all Thy laws on high.
Oh, send her forth from Thy celestial height,
And dispatch her from Thy glorious throne of light,
That she may be with me and share my toil,
To teach me what is pleasing on this soil.
For she perceives and understands the whole,
And will guide my deeds and safeguard my soul;
By her own glory she will keep me straight,
And protect my steps from any evil fate.
Thus shall my works be pleasing in Thy sight;
I will judge Thy people with a rule of right,
And sit as worthy on my father's seat,
Making his ancient royal line complete.
For who can know the counsel of the Lord,
Or who can search His deep, eternal word?
The deliberations of a mortal mind
Are timid, weak, and fitfully designed.
Our human plans are hesitant and blind,
For this corruptible body weighs us down,
An earthly tent that binds us to the town,
And burdens with its many cares the soul.
We scarcely guess the things on earth's domain,
And grasp what is at hand with toil and pain;
But things in heaven, hidden from our view,
Who among living men can search anew?
Or who could know Thy counsel or Thy will,
Unless Thou give Thy Wisdom to fulfill,
And send Thy Holy Spirit from on high
To pierce the clouds that mask the mortal sky?
Thus were the paths of those on earth made straight;
Thus did they learn what pleases Thee, and wait;
And by her guiding hand and saving grace,
Wisdom preserved and healed the human race.
Chapter 10
She saved the first-formed father of our race,
When he alone walked o'er the earth's wide face;
She raised him up from his disastrous fall,
And gave him strength and power to rule it all.
But when an unrighteous man withdrew in ire,
He perished in his fratricidal fire.
And when the global flood for him was sent,
Through frailest wood once more Wisdom went,
To guide the righteous pilot in his bark.
She, when the wicked nations joined the dark,
Knew the just man, and kept him clean and mild,
And stayed his hand from pity for his child.
She rescued a righteous man from among the dead,
When from the burning Pentapolis he fled,
Where fire descended in a deadly rain.
A smoking desert testifies their pain;
There plants bear fruit that never ripens true,
And a standing pillar of salt confronts the view—
The lonely tomb of a disbelieving mind.
For those who left her guidance far behind
Not only lost the knowledge of the good,
But left a monument of how they stood,
So that their fall could never hide away.
But Wisdom saves her servants from decay.
She, when a righteous brother fled from wrath,
Guided his footsteps in a righteous path;
She showed to him the kingdom of the Lord,
And gave him knowledge of the holy word.
She prospered him through all his heavy toil,
And multiplied the fruits of all his soil.
Against the greed of cheats she stood to build,
And with abundant wealth his house she filled.
She guarded him from foes who blocked his track,
And kept him safe from ambush and attack;
She gave the prize for his hard-fought race,
To prove devotion holds the mightiest place.
She did not leave the righteous man when sold,
But kept him clean from sins of mortal mold;
She went with him into the dungeon's night,
And did not leave him bound without her light,
Until she brought the scepter to his hand,
And gave him rule o'er all who ruled the land.
She proved them false who had defamed his name,
And crowned his life with an eternal fame.
The holy race and blame-free seed of old—
She brought them out from the oppressor's hold.
She entered in the servant of the Lord,
And challenged fearsome kings with signs outpoured.
She gave the holy ones their labors' prize,
And led them safely under wondrous skies;
A shelter from the heat she proved by day,
A starry flame by night to light their way.
She marched them through the waters of the deep,
And led them where the Red Sea billows sweep;
But all their enemies she overwhelmed,
And churned them from the depths they once had helmed.
And so the righteous did despoil the foe;
They sang Thy holy name with joy below,
And praised in unison Thy conquering might.
For Wisdom opens mouths that lacked the light,
And gives the tongue of infants ready choice,
To praise Thy glory with a perfect voice.