Skip to main content Skip to search Skip to header Skip to footer

Poems

SUMMONED BY PSALTERY, TIMBREL, AND HARP

From the February 1972 issue of The Christian Science Journal


It is not said
that mourning shall be turned into non-mourning:
a cessation of suffering, a merciful blank
like the aftermath of a crisis passed.

Nor is there promised
the prolonged privileges of a convalescent
who earns—by the mere feat of survival—the
flowers, the fruit, the ministrations of others.

For behold
it is dancing—
dancing—we are called to!

O summoned we are
(from the darkest depths)
to that act of gladness that elated leap
even the new lamb, come to earth, straightway knows
how to perform: bounding up on stiff little legs
with no more reason for what it does than the very joy,
still fresh in it,
of being—unhistoried—what it is.

Sign up for unlimited access

You've accessed 1 piece of free Journal content

Subscribe

Subscription aid available

 Try free

No card required

More In This Issue / February 1972

concord-web-promo-graphic

Explore Concord—see where it takes you.

Search the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures