I published a revised version of my first Cyber-Psalm. In doing so I seem to have lost the original post but links are now reaching the new version. Let me know if it is working right for you.

There were a number of minor punctuation and capitalization changes. But the major changes were:

1. Changing the line “And you rejected him” to “And you left him there.” The line was dramatic but misleading and not well thought out. Peter and Bob both expressed very valid arguments in favor of a different phrasing. Fellow poet, Suzanne, also gave some level-headed input. I’ll confess I’m not quite happy with the new wording but it is at least not distracting from the main sentiment of the prayer.

2. Changing the line “I praise you, Son, the light of the world.” to “I praise you, Jesus, the light of the world.” Although it is within a recognizable Trinitarian formula, addressing Jesus as “Son” sounds awkward to me and I didn’t use his name anywhere else in the prayer.

For those of you who like to engage in Lit. Crit. here is the full text of the original version:

Cyber-Psalm 1.0

God in heaven, Creator of the earth,
My heart is filled with wonder
As I consider the inky black sky
Filled with countless points of light.
It’s dizzying to consider how immense the universe is.
And you are over and in every part of it.

And when I consider the whimsical penguin,
Black and white like the sky,
Marching miles to the sea,
or standing for months with its child on its feet.
How strange and marvelous is your creation.

There is so much that fills me with wonder.
You as the Creator of it all are more wonderful still.

The sacrifice of Christ our Savior is also a great wonder to me.
How dark was his night. How few the stars!
As the sky grew dark during the day,
you were his only point of light.
And you rejected him.
Out of love for us,
the people living in darkness.

I praise you, Father, our companion in the night.
I praise you, Son, the light of the world.
I praise you, Holy Spirit, divine light in our hearts.

I composed this prayer sincerely seeking inspiration, and editing it based on input from brothers and sisters in Christ was a further blessing and spiritual exercise. It’s wonderful to be able to benefit collaboratively from the varying gifts in the body of Christ.

I’m pondering another post, inspired by the “rejected” theme, discussing the Old English poem, “The Dream of the Rood.” Can anyone help me locate an online version in Old English?

Finally, in reading the text again, I discovered an unexpected connection between the penguin and child and God and His Son. I like that.