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Poetry Page
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Read
poetry (following) by Renee Johnson, Susan Weiner, Jean Crichton, Gary Jacobs and others.
And Still You Came The world was full of men Whose fear would make them Like animals Fighting
only to survive. And
still You came. The earth was dark, Smelling of death and suffering; Awaiting in mingled hope and despair An almost forgotten deliverance. And still You came.
Our hearts were hardened, Willing to believe only If the price was not too high; Ready to forsake You in a moment To save ourselves. And still You came. The air was still; Broken only by a baby’s cry, The animals pricking their ears In the darkened stable; And in the blackness Only a star shining Brighter than eyes had yet seen To give any sign That
You had come To change The fear to joy The death to life The darkness to light. And still
You came Motivated
by a Love More powerful
than human minds can perceive, Deeper than human hearts Can fathom; Whose
Light, somehow contained Within
a tiny baby, Outshone
the mighty star Like
the sun Overcoming
the pale moon At dawn. Renee M. Johnson Novemeber 1983
Wait
Upon the Coming by Susan Weiner Wait
upon the coming of the glory of the Lord. Golden is the blade of his bright and burning sword.
A sweeping flame to assemble a lost and scattered horde, When shining are the shields of the armies of the Lord. Before his trumpet shall crumble the fortress of the
night. Sin will quake and tremble before the advent of his light. A
choir of angels will accompany the cherubim in flight,
When Jesus sets his hand against the cities of the night.
Chorus:
See stars and comets falling from the sky,
The ocean’s coastal waters running dry, Broken
towers that dared once rise so high, Before the lord whose kingdom cannot die.
Beside his throne
angels shield their eyes with wings For
he is like the sun upon the golden halls of kings; Wrapped in the glory his salvation brings,
At his word the seraphim unleash their mighty wings. So the Messiah comes back for us in chariots of fire;
And his mountains shall ascend like a church’s spire, And the voice of his valleys
will be the sound of heaven’s choir,
And the Earth
shall bear his glory upon its track of fire.
Chorus:
See stars and comets falling from the sky,
The ocean’s coastal waters running dry,
Broken towers that dared once rise so high,
Before the lord whose kingdom cannot die. Leah's
Song by
Jean E. Crichton
. Leah, first of Jacob's wives, Unlovely and unloved. By trickery you must be wed. Your week fulfilled, you leave his bed, Your sister Rachel in your stead, And you are left in shame.
. Leah, first of Jacob's wives, Unlovely and unloved. You weep alone inside your tent, A yearning wife's heartsick lament, Your husband's love forever
rent, For Rachel
has his heart.
. Leah, first of Jacob's wives, Unlovely and unloved. The Lord has seen you set apart, Your weakened eyes, your broken heart, His blessing will not soon depart From you, who are cast down.
. Leah, first of Jacob's wives, Unlovely and unloved. Your progeny will soon increase And still His favor will not cease, From Judah's line, the Prince of Peace Shall come to save the world.
Copyright 2008 by Jean E. Crichton Context: Genesis chapter 29; Matthew
chapter 1
Be Not Far Away Psalm
23:4 by Susan Weiner Father be not far away When the bones in me decay, When the
bitter herb of death
Scalds
the tongue of every breath, When dust and ashes fill my veins And sorrow beats down like the rain. Who has the whirlwind in His hand
And rests
His crook on promised land? Isaiah 42:1,6; Matthew
1:22-23 Be near to me in glory bright Whose broad wings lead blind men to sight;
Oh pillar of fire and corinth of cloud*
The mustard
seed has been plowed: Luke
9 22-24; Matthew 13:31-32 In blackest mist, in darkest night Let my heart be filled with light. 2
Corinthians 4:6
*abbreviation for Corinthian column .
Cinnamon and Myrrh by Susan Weiner Oh precious spice of my heart What spark of augury or art
Made salient the spell of your soul
on me, And traced in golden
filigree The imprint of your name Through every vein and byway flesh can frame?
Let kings to holy wars raise their
name And popes in scarlet
dream of fame; Let temples fall to desert sands And trade routes clear of caravans:
Your love is mortar to my heart And of blood and breath upholds each part. Magicians make shadows of matters unsure. All the days of my life you bring me cinnamon and myrrh.
.
Mary’s Song Blue homespun and the bend of my breast Keep warm this small hot naked star fallen to my arms Rest… You who have had so far to come Now nearness satisfies the body of God sweetly Quiet He lies whose vigor hurled a universe. He sleeps – whose eyelids have not close before. His breath (so slight it seems no breath at
all)
once ruffled the dark deeps to sprout a world. Charmed by dove’s voices, the whisper of straw, He dreams, hearing no music from
His other spheres. Breath, mouth, ears, eyes – He is curtailed Who overflowed all skies all years Older than eternity, now He is new. Now native to earth as I am, nailed to my poor planet, caught that I might be free, Blind in my womb to know my darkness ended, Brought to this birth for
me to be new-born, And for Him to see me mended I must see Him torn. - Lucy Shaw
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I Leave You Now by Jean Crichton
I
leave you now, my dearest ones.
Your tears reveal the hurt within.
I sorrow for your broken hearts,
And yet
my journey must begin.
Do not seek me here on earth,
I was not made to dwell herein.
I leave you
now, my dearest ones.
I take with me your tender care,
The joys we shared together here,
Our precious bond
that was so rare.
Do not seek me here on earth,
But send me forth without despair.
I leave you
now, my dearest ones,
Your life’s adventures still in store.
My Father calls; I cannot stay,
But I will
love you evermore.
Do not seek me here on earth,
I’ll wait for you at Heaven’s door. I
wrote this after a widowed friend told me, in beautiful and haunting words, how painfully the loss of his beloved wife had
affected him. These are the parting words of a dying woman who is both embracing the memory of those she loves, and
seeking to dry their tears, as she is leaving this earth to be with the Lord. - Jean
Copyright 2008 by Jean E. Crichton
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The Star by Gary Jacobs A star appeared upon the sky,
A dot of brilliant light that screamed “I’m here, I’m here! You see, I’m here!
I’ve been here all along! Believe!” I’d looked into the sky all day And often in that very place, But nothing caught my heaven
stare, No diamond sparkled in the air. Then in a moment all was fused, As evening flew from blue to gray, As sultry air consumed the
view
To shroud the star in summer haze. Still
it remains beyond the reach Of atmosphere’s obedience; Eternal years of light proceed
From it to me and back again. The
star, once seen, unseen for now Is still alive within its realm; I cannot see or touch its face,
But it is there, o yes, it’s there.
I was sitting in the backyard
in early summer, staring at the evening sky, when in an instant, a star appeared in the very spot where I was looking, lingered
a moment or two and then was gone. One moment the sky was blue and starless, the next moment, a little
speck of light, and then nothing but the gray of summer haze. Of course, the star had been there all along,
but the sky had been too bright for it to appear and then too hazy for it to remain. On that night, at that instant, the star
shone for a dazzling few seconds until the haze of summer obscured its light. The star was there before
some atmospheric action let it appear, and it remained there when those same atmospheric actions obscured it from view.
It was constant and unchanging; mere circumstance made it seem to appear. In the same way, we sometimes may get a fleeting
glimpse of God in the everyday – it’s not that suddenly he appeared and then disappeared as if by magic; he is
there all along, and once in a while, we are simply given the grace to notice. Gary Jacobs June 5, 2008
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