For his poetry, Isaac draws richly from tradition and classic writing forms, whether it be church hymns, the meticulous verses of George Herbert or the breathtaking brevity of Emily Dickinson. Written over the span of ten years, Glimpse of the Divine is a collection of fifty carefully crafted poetic pieces that observe, analyse and wonder at the world we live in – including the pandemic, climate change, the refugee crisis and ecclesiastical corruption.
“I pin, on mulberry sheets, the wreath
Wafting down from the Autumn moon;
I roam, with tingling ears, beneath
Stone archways of scholastic tune.
I dip my hands within blue crests
That ripple through the vast, deep lake;
I gather dew from high cloud-nests
That round the pine-tops flow and flake . . .“
From ‘God Is My Inspiration’
At times, life feels like it is floating through the sea like a castaway bottle (see ‘Bottled’). Or, we feel like we are an iron filing stuck in a tug-of-war between the magnets of Earth and Heaven (see ‘The Magnet’). Sometimes, the railroads of life are a mess, characterised by “spectacular disastrousness” (see ‘Patience’). Sometimes, with quiet joy, we sit and watch the clouds drift, varying in shape and colour (see ‘One Winter Evening’).
But through it all, the poet searches for the hidden divinity and the guidance of a loving God. For:
” . . . through the days of sun and rain,
I’ve learnt: His love is everywhere;
We, trembling, fear His will in vain:
’Tis only goodness that is there.”
From ‘The Lord My Guide’
Glimpse of the Divine is available for purchase through Amazon, Ingram and Kindle:
Isaac Tang - Poet, Author, Composer 