Poems

We seldom fully comprehend The wondrous meanings that attend The nature of our heritage As child of God. Instead, we gauge Our stature by some ill-conceived And mundane standards once achieved By mortals in the past.

All that I have, dear Father, comes from Thee: Abundant health, a home, and loving friends, Both useful work and happy times of rest, With quiet hours in which to watch and pray. How safe these are in Thy protecting care, How unassailable and ever sure.

She shared with us the bright and morning star, Her heart's discovery of endless life; For us she swung the gates of heaven ajar, Unfolding peace when everywhere was strife. As Hagar thirsted in the wilderness, Nor saw at hand the sparkling fountain play, So we, before she taught us Love's largess, Were hungered where the glistening manna lay.

I shall stand today upon the mountain, And I shall see The universe, Spiritual, ordered, majestic, Singing in pristine harmony. Established today upon my mountain, How shall I see? I shall see with the eyes of understanding.

Blind custom prods mankind to think of things Material as tangibility. All unperceptive of the glowing fact That lies beyond the symbol and the form.

To Jesus, in the silence of the night, came Nicodemus, ruler of the Jews. Had he not witnessed mighty healing works, listened in troubled wonder to the words of benediction from the Master's lips, "Come unto me.

God knows not man by color or by creed; He only knows the heart's unselfish deed; The innocent, the true, the humble mind Of gentle ones whose thoughts are pure and kind, Who think of God as ever-present good And trust in His protecting fatherhood.

Down in the canyon's quiet depths abiding, Keeping a faithful vigil here alone, Mirroring sky and forest in bright water. Making this peace and loveliness its own.

We may sometimes forget that God is here. But even if we call it darkest night Because our eyes are closed, still all is light.

We have not left this room, yet we have found The radiance of God's beauty all around; Love's consciousness is our vacation land, Where every joy is tenderly God-planned. In this glad upland valley, bright with flowers, The day unfolds its fragrant golden hours, And Truth's majestic mountains stanchly rise Beneath the azure loveliness of skies Forever glorious with heavenly light.