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Poems

Inspirational verse submitted by readers.

"I will give you rest"

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

Healing selfishness, healing death

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

Onward

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

Only a lamb...

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.

A lasting union

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.

Love

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

"Sweet seasons of renewal"

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.

Like Nehemiah

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

Thoroughness

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.

Jacob's prayer: a battle in four parts

Jacob wrestles with the adversary Well, don't we, too? Wrestle with the foe, I mean? At first we think we have real opposition, Coming at us from another camp, Making onslaughts on our life— An enemy outside our consciousness. And so it must have seemed to Jacob.