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Francis Thompson (1850—1907) was an English poet who published three collections of poems. He is best known for one poem in his first collection, “The Hound of Heaven.” The poem relates the story of a man running from God and God’s relentless pursuit of him.
Thompson’s poem never directly calls God the “hound of heaven,” except in the title. But the whole poem narrates God’s “hounding” of a rebellious soul until that soul at last accedes to God’s will and accepts His love.
The theme of the poem is in some ways akin to that of the book of Ecclesiastes: no pleasure, wisdom, or comfort of the world can satisfy the human heart. Only God can provide true and lasting satisfaction and purpose in life.
The poem “The Hound of Heaven” is written in the first person. The speaker relates his involvement in a chase in the opening lines:
I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him.
But no matter how fast the pursued one runs or where he hides, the Pursuer remains at his heels:I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him.
Still with unhurrying chase,
And unperturbèd pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
Came on the following Feet.
The speaker in the poem tries various ways to hide from God, substituting human love for God’s love and seeking solace in what the created world has to offer. But his attempts at avoiding God are futile, for God continues to pursue him “with unhurrying chase.” The speaker, with nowhere left to hide, eventually collapses, brokenhearted, discontent, and awaiting Judgment Day.And unperturbèd pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
Came on the following Feet.
It is then that God catches up to the runaway and speaks words of hope. God says that all he had “fancie[d] as lost, I have stored for thee at home: / Rise, clasp My hand, and come.” And in his broken state, the rebel asks himself, “Is my gloom, after all, / Shade of His hand, outstretched caressingly?” The poem ends with the realization that God was whom the runaway had been seeking all along.
“The Hound of Heaven” parallels several biblical passages that reveal God as the gracious Pursuer of sinful mankind. Adam and Eve, after they sinned, “hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden” (Genesis 3:9). God pursued them and found them, of course.
Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep shows the heart of God for one sheep that goes astray and is lost. The shepherd, Jesus says, will “go after the lost sheep until he finds it” (Luke 15:4). The Lord uses a similar analogy in the Old Testament in His promise to Israel to restore them one day:
For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. . . . I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice. (Ezekiel 34:11–16)
And the theme of being ceaselessly followed by God is present in Psalm 23:6: “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life.”The poem “The Hound of Heaven” is quoted or alluded to in the works of G. K. Chesterton, J. R. R. Tolkien, Daphne du Maurier, Robert Frost, and John Stott. Musical treatments of the theme have been recorded by Michael Card and Daniel Amos. And artist R. H. Ives Gammell painted a series of 23 paintings to visualize the poem.
Many people can bear testimony to the truth of Christ persistently pursuing them when they wanted nothing more than to flee His presence. We praise the Lord for His grace and mercy in that pursuit. May the Hound of Heaven continue to overtake souls on the run from God’s love.
