Snow Dancers

Tags

Beauty, Nature, Poem, Snow, Winter

Out on the field of tawny yellow

winter’s drear, and among the bare

skeletal branches of forlorn trees

plays a breeze slyly slight;

the sere sky glows with veiled light,

a beauty strange and unlooked for,

and out on the field of barren blond

snow-flurries dance, they wheel and rush

a strange romance of winter demure, a-blush

with half-concealed glory.

Snow-dancers amid the stark and cold,

you coyly call, softly unfold the mystery

of beauty bursting through the bleak,

of love in clouded seasons,

and glory waiting to be.

The Mystery

Tags

Christmas, God, God the Son, Grace, Incarnation, Jesus Christ, Mercy, Mystery, Nativity, Poem, Salvation

Awake, my heart,
awake, my voice,
arise and sing
the mystery;
recite, rejoice
in this such strange
and wondrous word
which angels uttered
and shepherds heard:
the Christ is come,
bright heaven’s gift,
made one with man
man’s soul to lift
from sin’s grim mire,
death’s grip to break,
and from the ruin
of wretched pride
mankind remake.

Awake, my soul,
on Christmas morn;
the Son of God
for us is born.
The light has come,
the dawn draws near
and every shade
of shame or fear
is vanquished
now and evermore.

Awake, my heart,
rejoice, adore
the mystery:
to us is given
the Light of heaven.
May joy abide
with each and all
this blessed Christmastide.

All That Matters

Tags

Death, God, Grace, Hope, Life, Poem

“It matters not, though death draw nigh

In curtained chamber fair,

Or on the deep, ‘mid wrecking blasts,

If He be with us there:

And may my ransomed soul at last,

Time’s storm-tried voyage o’er,

Sit down, like Mary, at his feet,

And listen evermore.”

-Lydia Huntley Sigourney, from “The Third Day at Sea”

The Light on the Frost

Tags

Hope, Poem

Morning light shines into
A world of frost and sorrow
Heaven’s promise, prophecy
Of tomorrow’s life anew;
It is hard some days to believe
This holy and true hope
For healing from life’s griefs.
Some days we mourn and wait,
Incomplete…and yet we see
The light upon the frost,
The bud upon the tree.

Faith’s Question

Tags

Christ, Death, Eternity, God, Hope, Jesus Christ, Life, Poem

“To whom, O Savior, shall we go?

The night of death draws near;

Its shadows must be passed alone,

No friend can with our souls go down

The untried way to cheer.

Thou hast the words of endless life;

Thou givest victory in the strife;

Thou only art the changeless Friend,

On whom for aye we may depend:

In life, in death, alike we flee,

O Savior of the world! to Thee.”

-Frances Ridley Havergal, final paragraph of “Faith’s Question”.

Nature’s Encore

Tags

Autumn, Beauty, Colors, Fall, Poem, Season, Weather, Wonder

Autumn comes

on blustery wings,

in breeze that sings

through thinning boughs

festal bedecked

bright, orange-flecked

plumage waving.

 

Autumn leaps

upon the year

in breezes clear

as trumpet blasts,

triumphant casts

its colored cape;

wond’ring we gape

nature’s encore.

Song for a Dreary Day

Tags

Grace, Hope, Mercy, Poem

Rain fall,

come pattering upon the panes

with your memory of sorrows

–there is ever tomorrow.

O dreary day,

yours is the moment;

paint it gray and grumble

over souls you humble.

Heaven sees,

and God is kind;

clearer come the dawning skies

and mercy with sunrise.

Ode to the Welsh Brew Tea

Tags

Nonsense, Poem, Tea

Here’s three cheers for the Welsh Brew Tea,

who, summoned under a Summer sun

fulfills his oath faithfully,

putting to rout tension.

 

Faithful, vigilant, Welsh Brew Tea,

Receive my encomium to thee!

 

Here’s three cheers for the Welsh Brew Tea,

who comes in Autumn no laggard,

but stalwart in his steaming station

leaves my brow less haggard.

 

Faithful, vigilant, Welsh Brew Tea,

Receive my encomium to thee!

 

Here’s three cheers for the Welsh Brew Tea,

who, welcomed on a Winter’s day,

slackens not in his sworn duty

to chase the chill away.

 

Faithful, vigilant, Welsh Brew Tea,

Receive my encomium to thee!

 

Here’s three cheers for the Welsh Brew Tea,

who sprightly springs at Spring tea-time

to invigorate the languid day

with essences sublime.

 

Faithful, vigilant, Welsh Brew Tea,

Receive my encomium to thee!

Lord of Light

Tags

Eternity, God, Light, Poem, Truth

Lord of light, invincible,

the light by which we see,

the light beyond that lights our eyes

and lights the way to thee,

Lord of light, unfading,

enlighten us to see

only in your consuming radiance

burns bliss eternally.

Unhidden

Tags

Heaven, Life, Nature, Poem, Revelation, Truth, Wisdom

That bold azure canopy above shows,

rather than hides,

the brilliant gates of heaven to our eyes,

and every blossom that unfolds

unfolds to us.

The twining grapevine molds

a sculpture of suggestive power

as songbirds herald

celestial tidings with each daylit hour.

We search, but cannot find what we

refuse to see–

that every moment apes eternity.