Speed Swiftly Time

Though time speeds swiftly on his vibrant way

I do not fear his silvering decay:

So lightly tethered to the earth am I

That traveling by my star, I reach the high,

White silences ... and view the Master's weaving,

Its flawless primrose strands, the gray relieving.

How beautiful the pattern He has woven

For me to follow! Never shall the cloven-

Hoof and lion-roar leave tragic scars

On its ultimate perfection. Even war's

Harsh and discordant notes of death will blend

Into His symphony where kingdoms have no end.

Speed swiftly time. As you pass, clear and free,

I hear the steps of immortality.

I Shall Walk

Father, when Thou callest me,

Let it be in some still dawn,

Pearls of dew upon the lawn,

Love, my staff to lean upon.

Let the breath of dawning be

Fragrance from a wild rose lane--

Memories will ease my pain,

Love, remembered, heals again.

Death is kind and leads to Thee--

I shall walk, not bowed, but straight,

To the tasks that, for me, wait--

Not a harp--beyond Thy Gate.

Heaven's Alchemy

When in my garden of Gethsemane

The sun was darkened and my song was stilled.

My heart was bleeding, for a part of me--

The boy I birthed and reared with love--was killed.

While spheres were clashing, Heaven's mighty power

Rebuilt my shattered kingdom when I said,

"Thy will be done." The moment--magic hour!

Restoring my torn soul. Upon my head

I felt a crown of peace I had not known.

The veil was thinned ... The Master at the helm

Let me behold my living son, His Own,

And see the beauty of His glorious realm,

Its kingdoms reaching far as thought can look--

Mortality but prefaces God's book.

Singing Pens

No Idle Playing on a Harp

The alluring

Grandeur of death

Bids me live gloriously-unafraid

In the now of the cycle.

Once, near the door

Death opened to admit a soul,

I glimpsed beauty unconceived before;

The burgeoning acres of immortality--

Every seed planted here, blossoming there;

The dream being builded;

A temple with carilloned towers arising,

The living builders singing the retrain,

"Nothing is lost, nothing is ever lost."

I shall welcome the silent restorer.

Unafraid, pass through the shadowed valley

To the blinding radiance awaiting

And accept the challenge--

No idle playing on a harp.

Different

I Wear His Lei

(To My Father)

I hear him saying,

"My child, through praying

     The waters of the sea of doubt

     Will part to let you safely through;

     Your soul will hear the silent shout

Of April crying,

'There is no dying,

     For death is but life's messenger.'

     I weave this lei of hope for you

     To ever wear." Though tears may blur

My eyes, his weaving

Illumes my grieving.

I Too Shall Return

Dark echelons of wild geese race the breeze.
In answer to a mute yet urgent call
They are returning to their emerald seas
Of northern marshlands, where the waterfall
Released from winter's boundaries fills the swamp.
Would I might likewise soar--My coronet
Be clouds and stars--returning Home to romp
Through meadows of the sky. I shall forget
That I am tethered when I see the light
Of my Primeval Home; unerringly
Swift-spiral upward, know the joy of flight--
Not long, not long till I am tether-free!--
How fragile are the chains of earth when I
See geese in ordered pattern mark the sky.

Old Man in a Garden

Slowly he walks the paths of stepping stones
Tapping his cane, and hears the overtones
From the All-Source of beauty. Clear and still,
Within the chalice of a daffodil
He listens to Infinity declare
The resurrection promise everywhere.

He pauses by the lilies, there to glean
The sweet compassion of the Nazarene
As he caresses blossoms virgin-fair--
To him they speak the gentle Master's care.

In reverence he kneels that he might see
And feel the truth of immortality
Where violets awakening in the sod
Retell the miracle of death ... and God.

Unending Victory

Why grieve for her

When death, the great physician, has released

Her spirit from its citadel of pain

Where she was prisoner and could not climb

To view the glory from the mountain tops?

Her heart was like a silent violin

That throbbed and wept with unvoiced melodies

Which even now on that Eternal Shore

Are bursting forth in joyous, vibrant tones

Whose echoes can be heard within our souls.

Her spirit that was waiting for release

Is soaring now and finding recompense

For all she could not do while tarrying here.

The doors, once closed, are swinging wide today--

A new world is before her to explore.

Then dry your tears and let your voices ring

And join with hers in glad, exultant song

That death has brought unending victory.

Reflections

As Shadows Pass

Mutely I stand within death's mystic spell--

Star-windows of the Heavenly Home alight--

Watching the silent shadows--in regret--

On cool-dewed grasses, and I gently smile:

His wounds restored, my first-born rests in peace

To hear an angel-bugle; rise; enwrap

His soul with dawn in sky fields ... Lest he keep

A tryst with earth, I smile as shadows pass.

Silver Sorrow

When death
Closes one door
Another opening
Reveals a silver pathway with
A sign of stars: NOTHING IS LOST!

Will Lead Me Through

The hands of time are near the twilight hour,

I do not mind or fear the growing old:

The fragrance lingers in the fading flower;

Age gives an added luster to love's gold--

When I am called to cross the Silent River

While death, the kind physician, holds my hand,

Strings of the Heavenly harpsichord will quiver

A song to welcome me to that Far Strand.

I would that I might leave with gracious etchings

Engraved by thoughts of beauty on my face;

Portrayed upon my mellowed soul the sketchings

Of artistry through giving love's embrace.

Death bids new portals open--When I go

The hand of God will lead me through, I know.

My Heart Believes

Love, are you lonely there below
Remembering still another May
We knew and shared in the long ago
Before God called and I went away?
Lift up your eyes, my dear, and know
That I am lonely as you today.

Though I am lonely as you today,
My yearning spirit no longer grieves,
For the Heavenly pattern I now survey--
The tapestry which the Master weaves--
With its golden threads illuming the gray.
My dearest, I call that my heart believes ...

Oh, dearest, call that your heart believes
That death is birth--Hear my triumph cry:
Nothing is lost that the flesh achieves!
Look up, for together, you and I
Will live our dreams, for Heaven retrieves--
Love, be not lonely there below.

Kingdom of the Free

Walk unafraid and bear a joyous load,
Adventure beckons all along the road.
Fear not the trail may end, but know this truth:
The twilight hours complete the dreams of youth.

Then comes the night when from its chrysalis
The soul steps forth to cross the last abyss--
And finds beyond, a sphere devoid of sorrow;
For death leads onward to a new tomorrow.

The spirit, eagle-pinioned, stands upon
Celestial heights to greet the glorious dawn,
And sees the light of immortality
Illuminate the Kingdom of the Free.

The Lyric

When I am Old

Let me still see the beauty of the hills
Waving immortal banners in the spring;
Hear lark-flutes pierce the dawn. But let me ring
The bells of joy that youthful hearts may sing
Unhaunted by the twilight hours. Let frills
Of laughter trim my soul, and daffodils
Of sunshine bloom within my heart that spills
Joyance and hope at each day's offering.

May little children love to walk with me
No matter how infirm my step, and find
A kindred spirit, singing joyously,
Questing in burgeoning meadows of the mind.
And when at last I hear the Twilight Gong,
May hearts remember lyrics from my song.

Midwest Chaparral

Reassurance

Death could not hold your love away from me.
Though it should close and bolt its heavy door,
You would come winging back, and joyously
Together--through the years--out hearts would soar.
Beside the moonlit river, I would hear
Your voice in words of love still speaking low;
Each winding country lane would bring you near;
Cicada call; the sunset's flaming glow;
Our garden where we dreamed at close of day;
Our path of stepping stones, a rainbowed sky;
The little church, the killdeer's plaintive lay;
The music of a new-born infant's cry.
So would you live and be with me each hour--
Upon love's memories, death can wield no power.

The Improvement Era

Beyond the Final Curtain

So this is death! Speak softly lest she waken
From her deep, painless sleep to hear our sighing.
Her fragile heart that was so often shaken
Has found the crown of all content in dying.

For on her face no lines are etched of sorrow;                                                                                                                                                    
She has recaptured youth, forgotten sadness.
I wonder, does she find the New Tomorrow
All that she dreamed, a sphere of hope and gladness?

Her worn old willing hands, at last, are resting;                                                                                                                                                  
Her slowing feet are stilled, yet I am certain
Celestial heights will always find her questing,
Could we but see beyond the final curtain.

Poet's Reed

Gently Gently Row

Silently we watch, grief-stirred,
     By her bed where angels stand--
     Gently death, come, take her hand,
     Bid her leave for Sunrise Land.

Muted weeping ... She has heard
     Timeless, still, cool waters flow--
     Gently, gently, pilot row
     To that Shore where all must go.

Endless kingdoms!--Speak no word!
     Hush! She hears--strange Mystery!
     Coming nearer, rhythmic, free,
     Steps of immortality.

The Miracle

Travail is over--Autumn calmly kneeling
In robes of flame before the harvest-shrine
Beholds her garnered largess of the vine
And root. Earth, weary, waits the silent healing
Of ermined-rest. Within the withered pod
October holds young April, dormant, clinging--
After my harvest-song, let me hear ringing
Of far-off bells of life nor mind the clod.
With beauty filmed throughout the years unreeling,
May I, all unafraid, see the design
Of earth and Heaven blend; with mellowed singing
Await the miracle of death ... and God.

He Will Be Waiting You

The son God loaned you for a few short years
To love and cherish while on earth he trod
Is living still, so dry your anguished tears
Saying, "Thy will be done," nor question God
Who in His love and wisdom called him Home.
Could you but lift the veiling you would see
Him with the chosen ones on Heavenly loam
Walking through meadows of Eternity
Caressing the white lilies, with his hand
In that of Jesus, seeking lambs that stray
In fields of Paradise ... There in that land
When you are called at closing of your day,
He will be waiting you ... This truth will bless,
So let your tears be prayers of thankfulness.

A Boy, a Dog, and Immortality

A staccato bark
and a small boy's laughter
danced through my flowers.

Long months after
the laugh was stilled,
the collie would wait
with hopeful eyes
at my garden gate.

When a careless gun
rang the dog's death-chime,
the small boy died a second time.

That night through star-blossoms in the sky
danced a collie's bark and a boy's glad cry.