A Turkish peasant cultivates his field.
Each day from dawn to dusk he labors there.
The ancient soil requires this tender care
To bring forth from the ground the needed yield.
His field is strange! His plow will overturn
A broken marble fragment from its bed!
For this was Lystra, where Paul visited
And brought the word for Timothy to learn.
And Timothy learned well, for as a boy
His mother, Eunice, taught him. At her knee
He learned the simple truths that make us free,
The Word of God, which fills our hearts with joy.
The governors and proud ones all are gone.
The marble streets and buildings now are dust.
But still the ones who place in God their trust,
Like Timothy, may help to bring the dawn.
A well-taught mind can suffer no decay.
No error can find strength or lodging there.
So let us teach our Timothys with care,
Instruct them daily, hourly, in the way.
