Poems

These things may happen: in far places where nobody knows your name a cherished coat may be stripped off and lonely cells become the recompense for righteousness. Dark thoughts, detailing grief or guilt, may shout but will not bring deliverance.

"Come unto me," the Master said. Those burdened and oppressed Brought unto him their troubled hearts, And so he gave them rest.

When we self-center our lives, we absent ourselves from humanity. We are alone, invisible in proportion to our selfishness.

There is a quietness In me today. The winds of history Have swept the scene And plucked the shriveled leaves To crown the green.

In a dream that seemed so real, I heard my child calling to me to save him. Frantic and with all my strength I rushed to the scene, finding him already beyond my reach.

Love wedded to its own— husband molding thought to Soul, wife binding hers to same— this is the heart of marriage, what God has joined: Love wedded to its own. This rock of higher harmony and might endures the strain of dailiness, temptation, time, and trauma.

is like a game of catch— the easy back-and-forth of an unscored ball. No points counted.

Winter trees— A bare time A silent time— A consolidating time Preparing to break out into exuberant life And joyous abundance. Study hours— Nothing much to be seen or heard No material accomplishments Unproductive to mortal eyes— But when the new shoots of understanding appear And new visions are acted on, What flowering And what fruits! See Science and Health 57:13.

Nehemiah wept For the affliction of Jerusalem. Even as I In my afflictions mourn.

Let me be thorough in my work Like Joshua and his people— Not slipshod, halfway But seven times around the wall Till I see the evil fall. Let me be thorough also in forgiveness— Not halfhearted Holding something back.