A friend introduced me to this collection of poems by Rev. Keble a while back, and I thought his reflection on All Saints’ Day would be fitting to share with you.

Why blow’st thou not, thou wintry wind,
      Now every leaf is brown and sere,
   And idly droops, to thee resigned,
      The fading chaplet of the year?
   Yet wears the pure aërial sky
   Her summer veil, half drawn on high,
   Of silvery haze, and dark and still
The shadows sleep on every slanting hill.

   How quiet shows the woodland scene!
      Each flower and tree, its duty done,
   Reposing in decay serene,
      Like weary men when age is won,
   Such calm old age as conscience pure
   And self-commanding hearts ensure,
   Waiting their summons to the sky,
Content to live, but not afraid to die.

   Sure if our eyes were purged to trace
      God’s unseen armies hovering round,
   We should behold by angels’ grace
      The four strong winds of Heaven fast bound,
   Their downward sweep a moment stayed
   On ocean cove and forest glade,
   Till the last flower of autumn shed
Her funeral odours on her dying bed.

   So in Thine awful armoury, Lord,
      The lightnings of the judgment-day
   Pause yet awhile, in mercy stored,
      Till willing hearts wear quite away
   Their earthly stains; and spotless shine
   On every brow in light divine
   The Cross by angel hands impressed,
The seal of glory won and pledge of promised rest.

   Little they dream, those haughty souls
      Whom empires own with bended knee,
   What lowly fate their own controls,
      Together linked by Heaven’s decree;—
   As bloodhounds hush their baying wild
   To wanton with some fearless child,
   So Famine waits, and War with greedy eyes,
Till some repenting heart be ready for the skies.

   Think ye the spires that glow so bright
      In front of yonder setting sun,
   Stand by their own unshaken might?
      No—where th’ upholding grace is won,
   We dare not ask, nor Heaven would tell,
   But sure from many a hidden dell,
   From many a rural nook unthought of there,
Rises for that proud world the saints’ prevailing prayer.

   On, Champions blest, in Jesus’ name,
      Short be your strife, your triumph full,
   Till every heart have caught your flame,
      And, lightened of the world’s misrule,
   Ye soar those elder saints to meet
   Gathered long since at Jesus’ feet,
   No world of passions to destroy,
Your prayers and struggles o’er, your task all praise and joy.

Rev. Keble begins his poem by addressing the wind, asking why it doesn’t blow, though the leaves, hanging like a garland upon the boughs, have died and could easily be moved by its gusts? Why is it still, when even the sky is dimmer than before, and the night comes earlier? As he notes, these fading garlands of the year die now as this, not two months from now, is the end of the year, nearing the height of the darkest hours. This is All Saints’ Day, the day to remember our loved ones in Christ who have died. This is the time for chilling to the bones, to encourage frail humans to think about the end of life where we, like those leaves, succumb to time and decay. Yet, the phrasing of this opening verse is reminiscent of 1 Corinthians 15:55. These questions are not asked in sympathy for the wind, but as a barb. For the Reverend knows what this day truly means. He continues his taunt in the second verse: Look how everything else lies dead! Why do you, wind, not join in this triumph? He answers for it: These have done their duty and rest in peace. They wait, with all creation, in that slumber until that great Day (Jas. 5:7-8). And what a beautiful thought: “Waiting their summons to the sky,/Content to live, but not afraid to die” (1 Thes. 4:14-16; Phil. 1:21).

And he goes on. We wait in peace and in hope, in knowing, for we know that if our eyes were clean, we could see all His army at hand, also waiting, with all of creation for their appointed time (Rev. 6:10). How glorious that day will be! And how marvelous is the patience of God! Here, his voice turns in praise to God, for He has paused “yet awhile, in mercy stored” that those whom He has called might live and die to wait to rise again pure and spotless. I am reminded of making the sign of the cross upon my forehead (Rev. 7:3). Now, it is a reminder of our baptism, and the future promised. Then, it will be promised fulfilled, and we will shine with the radiance of Christ. And even now, our forerunner saints have gained rest from their labors and eternal rest in Christ.

This is all that awaits for us in Christ. But those who are haughty, content with abuse and earthly power, are joined with that which will also be destroyed. Famine, war, greed, death, they also wait before their frolic can begin. For while these early powers think they are joined with those means of destruction as a means for their own gain, they are actually mere fodder for their own destruction. Yet these things – famine, war, etc – also wait because they must, their time has not yet come so that before that terrible and great day, one more might repent.

But now the dear Reverend returns to speaking to the fruitless wind. Does it think the things of the world stand by their own might? That creation, perhaps specifically, those amber leaves, stand by their own power against the wind’s designs? No, neither fallen creation nor fallen man stands by his own power. Our grace is found in the mercy of Christ; and even in the most humble abodes, the prayers of God’s saints prevail (Psa. 141:2; Rev. 5:8).

Rev. Keble finishes now in an address to those who have already become part of the Church triumphant, those “Champions blest, in Jesus’ name.” Go on, he tells them, that your lives may touch the hearts that still dwell below. Go on, unburned by this world, greet those who have gone before you, as you now go before us. Go on, to also sit at the feet of Christ. Go on, your life is blest and unhindered; partake of your only “task of praise and joy!” And today, as we do every All Saints’ Day and hopefully every time we gather “with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven” to laud and magnify God’s glorious name, take time to remember those saints who have gone before us and who wait in blessed hope for the restoration of heaven and earth when we will join them and at last in Christ for all eternity, world without end.

Blessings to you and yours,

~Madelyn Rose Craig