Poems

" Learn to trust in growth. " These were the words Of one I sought out when my way seemed slow.

There seem at times to stand within my path Impediments that bode of storm and wrath, With discord looming as an aftermath. Then I recall a day when from a pier I saw out on the sea a fishing weir Limned quite distinctly, sturdily and clear.

Intellectualists may scoff At childlike faith and trust in good. Who dwells in Spirit's hemisphere Knows Love and Truth are understood.

Peace , not in sleep, but in tranquil expectancy of good: Security, not in caution, but in God's presence understood; Faith, as the airman knows faith, flying in on the beam; Hope, born of certainty that evil is only a dream. Courage that comes of humility, knowing we stand Upheld by no power of our own, but by God's powerful hand; Allegiance that holds us to Him because well we know There is none else in heaven or earth to whom men can go.

If I had known that day what now I know Of Love's unfailing, infinite supply, The Master would have felt no urge to ask, "Whence shall we buy bread?" Nor I to answer, "Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not Sufficient for them. " To mortal sense it seemed There was not bread enough in Galilee To feed the hunger of five thousand men.

Dear Father-Mother God, my prayer each day Shall not be words so much as Christly deeds Of love to those I meet upon the way, Who, burdened, seem with many human needs, Unsatisfied. May I with consecration's healing power impart The tender comfort of Thy joy and peace.

Sweetbriar sends its fragrance on the air, Obedient to its kind, Not waiting for a wind To waft the scent to special here or there, Or proudly everywhere; But in its quiet radius With giving, free and generous, It breathes delight for all who wander near. So may our lives the Spirit-fragrance breathe Of thoughts that dwell in Mind, Of patience, gentle, kind— That spiritual sense of Life that brings Odor of holy things: The higher joys and purer peace That give the earth-bound sweet release— Fragrance of Soul that whispers, "Life is Love.

In silent prayer we listen for God's Word With no desire except to know His will. With willingness to heed the truth when heard.

I Kings 17:8-16 Her eyes were closed to good: a drop of oil, A little meal, were left, and now she bent To gather two small sticks for final fire. Perhaps the ground was strewn with sticks, but she Had let in, "Not enough!" This error pinched Her whole perspective—dwindling sense of good Right down to nought.

Imagine (just for an allegory's sake) A group of sunrays were endowed with sight, With hearing, smell, taste, touch, as humans are, And as they were beamed and guided, each in its place, Each inseverable from, dependent on, its source, A vast assemblage of storm cloud approached With menacing glower, wind-hurled and lightning-rift, Appearing to eclipse, in direst dark, Impenetrable, all that before was luminous. Imagine (for the allegory's sake) These rays cry out in terror at the blast, And (as one in a nightmare faces doom) Huddle despairing, blinded to believe Themselves quite lost, identified with the cloud; Tasting the bitterness of the wind, and numbed By stinging spindrift, bereft of warmth and home.