Poems

I used to pray for self alone, For greater blessings, all my own. I wondered why my eager word So often seemed to go unheard— Why the Father failed to heed My fervent utterance of need.

The children put their hands in His; they know The safety of their Father-Mother God. How could they fail, who love the Shepherd so, To learn the uses of His staff and rod? Should error tempt us to account it true, Or should we grapple with our fears in vain, Then let us capture innocence anew And as a child confide in Love again.

" Why did I do it?" Still the cry is heard from grieving human hearts around the earth, and back in answer comes the healing word, "Man has made no mistake; man has not fallen. " This is the healing, scientific fact: that God created man for His delight, to show His glory forth in word and act from everlasting unto everlasting.

It was wintertime, during the Feast of the Dedication, that Jesus walked in the porch of Solomon's temple. High upon the eastern hill opposite the Mount of Olives, facing east and looking out from over the cedars of Lebanon on across the valley of the Jordan, where, be the weather dark or fair, this temple of Solomon's stood glistering in its overlay of gold.

We thank You, Father, for the joy Of knowing You are here; For understanding of the truth That conquers pain and fear; For consciousness of radiant Life That is Yourself alone, And knowledge of enfolding Love That ever guards its own. For all these gifts our thanks we bring; There is no more to ask, Except that we remember them In every daily task; That we may ever bear in mind Their amplitude and power, And let the thought of Love divine Fill every golden hour.

May I be swift to hear Thy angel message, Which comes in stillness to the listening ear; The inspiration of Thy love and goodness That quiets fear and pain, oh, let me hear. Let me be slow to speak and patient ever To wait on wisdom, to withhold the dart That may, perchance, offend an erring brother, Where loving-kindness proves the better part.

Here in Thy presence. Father, is my home.

Life is the only substance of this hour; Then give no way To shade of doubt or death— Life calls today! Each moment is by Life possessed; Then see The amplitude of Life expressed Eternally. Life is the only substance of this hour; Wherefore, know The all-pervasiveness of Life, its ebbless flow; And find no shallow in Life's surging power— The Life invincible, that is The only substance of this hour!

The plane of true existence Is Spirit, Truth, and Love. Within the sphere of Science We safely live and move.

Although unchanging Truth be misconstrued, No mortal fear or failure may reverse All-loving Mind, which can impose no curse, Whose purpose is undeviating good, Whose will, with power invincible imbued, Maintains the rhythm of the universe, Whose happy law it is that we rehearse With reverence and prayerful gratitude. And though, as if asleep, we should forget, His holy Word remains forever true, His ample blessing rests upon us yet To comfort and deliver and renew.