R. Michael Spangler

Hi, my first name is Rob.

I write for people, like you, who are trying to be honest about what they see in the world and what they see in themselves. The good, the bad, and the redeemed.

I am a poet, husband, and father of four, living on the East Coast of the US.

There’s a constant wrestling in me between the modern world and the ancient world. (I’m usually rooting for the latter.)

I study theology and culture and hold degrees in Digital Media and Theology (Bethlehem College & Seminary). I’m currently studying Classics (Knox Theological Seminary) and tutor in logic at a classical Christian tutorial.

Thank you for being here. Truly. My writing has a small (comfortable) reach. I don’t maintain a charismatic persona or output an endless stream of content. I’m just your friendly neighborhood poet.

What is Heart in Pilgrimage?

Poetry is the most natural way to translate the heart.

May even one of these poems be a prayer you need—a heart in pilgrimage.

As I attempt this, I hope to serve you, my fellow image-bearer.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Read slowly.

Prayer (I)
By George Herbert

Prayer the church’s banquet, angel’s age,
God’s breath in man returning to his birth,
The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,
The Christian plummet sounding heav’n and earth
Engine against th’ Almighty, sinner’s tow’r,
Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,
The six-days world transposing in an hour,
A kind of tune, which all things hear and fear;
Softness, and peace, and joy, and love, and bliss,
Exalted manna, gladness of the best,
Heaven in ordinary, man well drest,
The milky way, the bird of Paradise,
Church-bells beyond the stars heard, the soul’s blood,
The land of spices; something understood.