Star Psalm
Jeffrey P. Freeman
Dec 25, 2025
1 min read
TL;DR A devotional two-stanza poem addressing a guiding star as both wound and healer — a psalm sung in the dark hours for the one who listens. O Star, dear Star, lean silence on my breast, While all the wine-dark heav’ns do hold their breath; The jasmine sighs; warm earth doth sink to rest, And moths, like prayers, beat softly after death; One piercing Star doth seam the night’s thin veil, And there my guarded silence waxeth frail.
A devotional two-stanza poem addressing a guiding star as both wound and healer — a psalm sung in the dark hours for the one who listens.
O Star, dear Star, lean silence on my breast,
While all the wine-dark heav’ns do hold their breath;
The jasmine sighs; warm earth doth sink to rest,
And moths, like prayers, beat softly after death;
One piercing Star doth seam the night’s thin veil,
And there my guarded silence waxeth frail.
I speak to thee as sailors do to fire,
Low-voic’d, lest wind should steal the holy word;
Thou art my North, my hunger, my desire,
The salt of blood, my psalmèd singing bird;
Star, pierce me through, till day hath stripp’d the night,
And bind my broken dark, and make it light.
-- Jeffrey Phillips Freeman
A short format poem I am playing with, again for Star.
check_circleKey takeaways
- checkLonging can be a form of devotion, directed toward light rather than possession.
- checkThe star is both wound and compass — what pierces also guides.
- checkSilence, when guarded, becomes the truest prayer.
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