Did you for one moment when you were shut out,
Thinking of your swift journey to the Mount,
Resting your head against the post of the door,
See earth's fair fancies fall away to dust?
Even as you pressed your hands upon the frame,
Your sore heart torn—your mother's ears attent
Half to earth's cries and half to heaven's song
O Shunammite, what saw you then? Did you
See for one moment God and man at one?
Did you see then what we in later day,
More clearly taught, glimpse also in our pain:
Man, perfect and complete, at one with God,
Including all identities in one
Clear consciousness? Did heaven open wide
Its portals till you dropped your hands from the door
And went your way to your house in peace,
Content now with your portion? And so at rest
Waited till the call came, and unbewildered, calm,
Took up your son alive—and knew God there?
Poems
THE SHUNAMMITE AT THE DOOR
From the June 1934 issue of The Christian Science Journal
Explore Concord—see where it takes you.
Search the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures