O world invisible, we view thee

O world invisible, we view thee. Francis Thompson* (1859-1907). This striking hymn was first published in Selected Poems of Francis Thompson, edited by Wilfrid Meynell (1908). It had six stanzas, and was entitled ‘In no strange land’. Percy Dearmer* printed five stanzas in SofP, omitting the original stanza 5, with its imaginative and startling local reference: But (when so sad thou canst not sadder) Cry; — and upon thy so sore loss Shall shine the traffic of Jacob’s ladder Pitched betwixt Heaven and Charing Cross. Martin Shaw* wrote a tune for these words, entitled PIMLICO ROAD. In SofP Dearmer designated this as a ‘Choir Song’, but in SofPE printed it normally, remarking that...