Poems

How long the pain, I do not know— before I felt the healing glow of warmth, a soft caress, the flow of balm into my wounds, and found bent o'er me one who gently bound my injuries and from the ground onto his own beast lifted me and took me to the inn to be tended and cared for properly. It does not matter, now, how long I'd lain.

" Go , wash"—the hearer felt the imperative intent, So that, without questioning, he straightway rose and went. Oh, whiter than break of day upon the mountain's height The light of perception, dawning, dispelled his lack of sight.

The prophet Moses heard the voice of God When safe among the fields at Midian, Content in easy domesticity Free from the plague of Pharaoh's jealousy. So was God's Word revealed to Abraham In human years of ripe security, The lance of Spirit severing his desires From narrow sensuous ease to broader purposes.

I did not come to Him with needs all met. With deeds unselfed, or happy, childlike trust.

If all the love that ever mothers knew In every country from the start of time. And every tenderness of friend to friend In every continent and every age, And all the good man ever showed to man, Noted or unobserved—if all that love Were heaped in one immeasurable thought Beyond the reach of mortals, yet that love, With all its warmth, its gentleness and power, Would be a grain of mustard to the Love That rules the stars and makes the lily fair, Reigns through all space and fills the humble heart, One boundless source of all that cumulate good.

Not in the earthquake or the flame, The wracking wind, or violence, came The voice of Truth—omnipotence. But in the stillness and the calm, Omniscient quietude—the balm Of Love's supernal evidence.

Only five loaves you say? And only two fishes? Poor blinded eye! Whence came the five and two? Numerals of mortal mind— No substance there. Now look beyond the numerals.

Reluctant prophet! "Ah, Lord God, behold I cannot speak. " Shrinking from the call and the burden, Sensitive, hesitant; weak? Ah, no! How many before the vision have questioned, Why me? And thought to fly to the wilderness seeking A refuge in matter; but he— In his growing perception of Love as the Father of all— Could he stay, Or forbear to go forth with the Word of the Lord, Though the way Passed through scorn and derision of those who heard not, Would not see? Imprisoned and beaten: a failure? Alone? Ah, not he! For the love of the Father he taught And the presence of God Were the consciousness where he abode, Lit the way that he trod.

Serene the early morning hour, Calm with the strength of hidden power. All sense of yesterday grows dim, Tomorrow ever rests with Him, But now at dawn profound, deep peace Enfolds this promise: Love's increase.

Of all the many reasons For seeking Truth, this one Is patently the noblest: For love of Truth alone. Not for the hope of heaven, Not for the fear of hell, But for the love of Truth itself— Truth, the ineffable!