Poems

Beauty for ashes is given them that mourn. The oil of joy and garments knit with praise Replace the heaviness which they have worn; As trees of righteousness they spend their days.

The children asked, "What is unceasing prayer? What did Paul mean in Thessalonians, 'Pray without ceasing'? How can we do that? And when we pray," they pressed, as children will, Not giving one a chance at explanation Till they've poured out all that troubles them In one great urgent question .

I wanted words whose joyous tones could spell the wondrous, saving truth I wished to tell, majestic words that like the ocean's song forever softening harsher sounds are strong and beautiful. In earth and sky and sea I tested symbols, tasted imagery.

O rising star, thy penetrating beam Has pierced the dark of error's long, long night And roused mankind forever from his dream To walk the way illumined by thy light, Light which reveals creation's primal glory And man, God's own beloved child, Untouched by error's misty, shadowed story, Perfect, pure, complete, and undefiled!

One is the Mind which regulates the cosmos, Which holds the galaxies upon their way, Which, in exquisite form immaculate, Unfolds the tiny blossom at my feet. There is no other mind, perverse and peevish.

" That day, .

My private wilderness—how grim, how drear, How hopeless! Surely Moses never trod One so forsaken, so apart from God. And his was so far off, and this one here.

Through corridors of timeless Life Resounds a melody. It is a golden-throated note Sustained eternally! It penetrates earth's sepulchers, Besieging their beliefs.

Dear Father, for Thy love and constant care My overflowing heart sends forth this prayer. Oh, may I speak Thy truth courageously Where ignorant and bound need to be free.

It was not sympathy or worldly wealth That came to him who sat beside the gate; But those who knew the nature of the Christ Revealed to him his sonship, pure and free. He leaped and stood.