Poems

A table's laid, A feast is spread, The books arrayed. Who serveth here? 'T is he who said: I am the bread That cometh down from heaven.

The sun sinks low behind the hills; The evening calm lies sweet About the humble, eager group That sits at Jesus' feet. Forgotten are their homely tasks, Their nets lie idly by; Quiet their hands; their hearts drink in The Master's message high.

What saith the Book? It sums the whole Of mortal woes and vain desires; It matters not how dark the scroll, How dread the threat of death as goal, "Thine enemies shall be found liars"! What saith the Book? Full well ye know, Who triumph in life's furnace fires! Life, Truth, and Love all boons bestow; Naught else there is, above, below; Thine enemies thou hast found liars!

If all were said and known of poetry, We'd turn, for fadeless beauty, to the Psalms, And find there, like "clear shining after rain," The vital light, which never fades with years. No luxuries of that historic throne Obscured the music which the shepherd lad Brought with him from the fields which he had loved, Where, starlit nights, he had communed with God.

What though I cannot see and cannot hear The Presence men call God? Full well I know 'T is no vain fancy. Ofttimes comes a glow, In sacred stillness, proving God is near; And 'mid the frightening shadows, when I fear, Sweet reassurance comes,—a voice so low It doth within my heart alone bestow Its kindly message of celestial cheer.

Freed from the law of sin, disease, and death— Freed, fully freed! Freed by the power of Love divine, that saith To those that heed: If Christ, the Truth, shall make thee free, then thou Art free indeed! Oh, claim thy freedom now! Art thou still bound by chains that mortal mind Hath forged for thee? Look unto Christ, and thou shalt surely find Thy liberty! The Spirit's law of life in him, he saith, Hath made thee free From laws of sin and death. No condemnation now, if thou abide In Truth and Love, And choose the Spirit as thy constant guide To realms above.

Be still, O heart; the Father's love's around you, The ills you see, are phantoms of the night. There is no truth in aught but God's own goodness; Forget the past, and look to Him for right.

I share the little in my store, And thus make room for more; I open wide the inner door, And thus make room for love to pour; I empty out my heart's deep bowl Into a neighbor's hungry soul, And trust to Love's replenishing.

"The darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. "— I John 2:8.

"He that overcometh shall inherit all things. "— Revelation 21:7.