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Poems

Inspirational verse submitted by readers.

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"In self we trust," my motto was; My coin, philosophy. My citadel, pure reason's shell, My pearl, the knowledge tree.

EVEN THAT VERY SHORT WALK

"Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. " No need to hesitate, or wait; with instant loving sanction favoring obedient adventure, Master bade follower, "Come.

BLACKOUT OR BETHLEHEM?

No Niagara now, nor pistoned power nor politics provides us enough light to walk, unmolested, Main Street's night infested with forked hates and fears. The hour is ominous.

A SONG OF WISE MEN

From the East there came Wisemen to honor one in Bethlehem. Symbolic starlight beamed and pointed where to find him, God's anointed.

TO FOLLOW THE MASTER

Yes, I said I would follow him, Follow wherever he would guide: From Jordan's brink to the wilderness, From there to Galilee's shimmering side; Or up from the sea to a mountaintop To hear his sermon in the soft, sweet breeze; Then through the cities and villages Teaching and healing every disease; Or giving food to the multitude, Or walking across the sea at night, Or on the mountain where he stood Transfigured in immortal light. But into Judea? to Jerusalem? To face the scribes and the Pharisees? Into the temple to whip out the thieves? Should I be willing to face all these? And would I sit at the sad Last Supper And follow him out to Gethsemane, Or go with him into Pilate's court, Or carry the cross to Calvary? Should I be willing to follow him To the tomb itself, if such need be? To the garden bathed in Easter light, To the mount of ascent in Galilee? How can I know how far I would go, How well in his footsteps I would stay, Except I begin to follow him now In my thoughts, in my life, and to walk in his way? Max Dunaway.

REALIZATION

In weariness I turned to one Whose thought climbs high. She said: Don't struggle so, You're one with God , let go And rest upon the power of present Love As vessels float upon the sea Supported, in innocence, effortlessly.

IN A CHRISTIAN SCIENCE SUNDAY SCHOOL

After her first visit to the Sunday School, A tiny child said, "I sat still for a very long time. " That was all.

THE WAY

The way out of prison—any prison? Consider Joseph: sold by his own brothers into slavery; then falsely accused by others; victim of thwarted passion. Calumny accepted.

THE LOVE THAT FEEDS THE SHEEP

How Peter, the impulsive, loved his Lord! Adored him with a finite sense of love; He said he would lay down his life for him, And meant it, at the time, with all his heart. At other times he rose to heights sublime; And Jesus said that he would build his Church Upon the Rock—the truth that Peter voiced: "Thou art the Christ," he said, "the Son of God"! But Peter's love could not withstand the test.

COMPARISON OF TWO KINGS

Tutankhamen, nineteen, Pharaoh for three thousand years over darkness, over his untouched tomb uncovered by chance by Carter, archaeologist, exposing unsung an era in faience obsidian onyx gold, inanimates animating culture and karma, the lotiform wishing cup chanting still through alabaster: "Live, O King! Live, live, thy Ka. " But no wind yet has stirred to dance these bones.