Poetry Friday: To a Waterfowl

Posted on August 8, 2008 by Barbara Harper

I have always enjoyed poetry, but I have neglected it in recent years. I have enjoyed seeing Poetry Friday selections at Findings and Semicolon, but this is my first time to participate.

I probably first read William Cullen Bryant’s poem “To a Waterfowl” in college, but the first time it really stood out to me was when Elisabeth Elliot quoted some of these stanzas in her book The Savage My Kinsman after her husband’s death.

Whither, ‘midst falling dew,
While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,
Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue
Thy solitary way?

There is a Power whose care
Teaches thy way along that pathless coast,–
The desert and illimitable air,–
Lone wandering, but not lost.

Thou’rt gone, the abyss of heaven
Hath swallowed up thy form; yet, on my heart
Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given,
And shall not soon depart.

He, who, from zone to zone,
Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,
In the long way that I must tread alone,
Will lead my steps aright.

As a young wife then I empathized with Elisabeth’s picking up and going forward in the comfort of God’s care after the loss of her husband and was comforted with the thought that, if the Lord should ever ask me to “tread alone,” He would lead me and care for me, too. Even within 28 years of marriage, there have been many days of treading alone while my husband traveled, and I have been comforted to know that I am never truly alone.

The rest of the poem, which describes Bryant’s observation and thoughts of the bird’s activity, can be found here along with some instructive links. Becky’s Book Reviews is hosting Poetry Friday today.

Does anyone know this poem?

Posted on July 31, 2008 by Barbara Harper

Some years ago I heard a dear older missionary read a poem about going back to the field, and it had the recurring line, “I’m going back. Are you?” I’ve tried googling that line and other search possibilities, but I can’t find it. Has anyone else heard of it or know any more about it?

Memorial Day

Posted on May 26, 2008 by Barbara Harper

Any nation that does not honor its heroes will not long endure.
~Abraham Lincoln~

A good history of Memorial Day is here, and a great article about ways to observe it is here.

GOING TO THE GONE
A checklist for Memorial Day

by Greg Asimakoupoulos
May 23, 2008

Go look in on your children still asleep
within their bed.
Remind yourself they’re safe and warm
because of some long dead.

Go for a walk through cemeteries
lined with little flags.
Take time to ponder homebound heroes
flown in body bags.

Go stand between those granite stones
engraved with names and dates.
Imagine all who died defending
our United States.

Go on and kneel beside a marker
offering a prayer
with gratitude for those who gave their lives
defeating terror.

Go home and count your blessings
from the hands of those now gone.
Then vow to the Almighty that their
mem’ry will live on.

Also found here.

Hat tip to A Thinking Man’s Thoughts.

(Graphic courtesy of Anne’s Place)

Mother’s Kisses

Posted on May 11, 2008 by Barbara Harper

They’re good for bumps and good for lumps
They’re even good for dumps and grumps,
They’re good for stings of bumblebees
And barks from shinnying cherry trees.
For splinters, sunburns, “skeeter-bites,”
For injured feelings after fights,
And scratches, scratched while Tabby hisses —
Mother’s kisses.

There’s naught so pure, there’s naught so sure,
Indeed, they seem a heavenly cure,
For pounded fingers, and stubbed toes,
And all the long, long list of woes.
Yet did you ever think it queer
That while they’re fine for every fear
They’re just as fine with all the blisses —
Mother’s kisses.

~ Annie Badcomb Wheeler

A few other poems for Mother’s Day are here.

My tribute to my mom, written last year, is here. This is one of those days I most miss her.

Happy Mother’s Day!

(Graphic from Anne’s Place)

Morning prayer

Posted on May 4, 2008 by Barbara Harper

All praise to Thee, who safe hast kept,
And hast refreshed me while I slept.
Grant, Lord, when I from death shall wake,
I may of endless light partake.

Direct, control, suggest, this day,
All I design, or do, or say;
That all my powers, with all their might,
In Thy sole glory may unite.

From “Awake My Soul and With the Sun” by Thomas Ken

By Night When Others Soundly Slept

Posted on February 9, 2008 by Barbara Harper

By Night When Others Soundly Slept

By Anne Bradstreet

By night when others soundly slept
And hath at once both ease and Rest,
My waking eyes were open kept
And so to lie I found it best.

I sought him whom my Soul did Love,
With tears I sought him earnestly.
He bow’d his ear down from Above.
In vain I did not seek or cry.

My hungry Soul he fill’d with Good;
He in his Bottle put my tears,
My smarting wounds washt in his blood,
And banisht thence my Doubts and fears.

What to my Saviour shall I give
Who freely hath done this for me?
I’ll serve him here whilst I shall live
And Love him to Eternity.

Never further than Thy cross

Posted on December 8, 2007 by Barbara Harper

I saw two verses of this in a book I was reading last night, and when I looked it up today I found it was a hymn. I’ve never heard it — it would be a good one to put back into the hymnbooks.

Never further than Thy cross,
Never higher than Thy feet;
Here earth’s precious things seem dross,
Here earth’s bitter things grow sweet.

Gazing thus our sin we see,
Learn Thy love while gazing thus,
Sin, which laid the cross on Thee,
Love, which bore the cross for us.

Here we learn to serve and give,
And, rejoicing, self deny;
Here we gather love to live,
Here we gather faith to die.

Pressing onward as we can,
Still to this our hearts must tend;
Where our earliest hopes began,
There our last aspirings end.

Till amid the hosts of light,
We in Thee redeemed, complete,
Through Thy cross made pure and white,
Cast our crowns before Thy feet.

~ Elizabeth R. Charles

Thanksgiving poems

Posted on November 14, 2007 by Barbara Harper

Kelli at There’s No Place Like Home is hostessing a week of Giving Thanks. Bloggers can link up every day this week through Saturday with Thanksgiving poems, memories, recipes, decorating ideas, etc., to get our hearts into a Thanksgiving frame of mind and not let it slip by on the way to the Christmas season.

So far I have been linking to posts from last year because I had put up a lot of Thanksgiving posts then, like Thanksgiving devotional reading and Thanksgiving “funnies.” But I had posted several different poems, so I wanted to put those all in one place, plus add a new one or two.

Giving Thanks

For the hay and the corn and the wheat that is reaped,
For the labor well done, and the barns that are heaped,
For the sun and the dew and the sweet honeycomb,
For the rose and the song and the harvest brought home –
Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!

For the trade and the skill and the wealth in our land,
For the cunning and strength of the workingman’s hand,
For the good that our artists and poets have taught,
For the friendship that hope and affection have brought –
Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!

For the homes that with purest affection are blest,
For the season of plenty and well-deserved rest,
For our country extending from sea unto sea;
The land that is known as the “Land of the Free” –
Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!

~ Author Unknown

Thanksgiving

Dear Lord—I’m thankful for the home I knew in early youth,
Where I first heard from Mother’s lips the story of your truth.
I’m thankful for the fellowship with friends who ever hold
Within their hearts Your gift of love, as world events unfold,
I’m thankful for Your peace that stills my heart, and light that guides
My course, as chaos rushes by on swiftly changing tides.
But thankful most—for faith that looks beyond a mortal sky
To truth—to your unchanging truth that cannot ever die!

~ Sarah Mizelle Morgan

From The Valley of Vision:

Praise and Thanksgiving

O my God,
Thou fairest, greatest, first of all objects,
my heart admires, adores, loves thee,
for my little vessel is as full as it can be,
and I would pour out all that fullness before thee in ceaseless flow.
When I think upon and converse with thee
ten thousand delightful thoughts spring up,
ten thousand sources of pleasure are unsealed,
ten thousand refreshing joys spread over my heart,
crowding into every moment of happiness.
I bless thee for the soul thou hast created,
for adorning it, sanctifying it,
though it is fixed in barren soil;
for the body thou hast given me,
for preserving its strength and vigour,
for providing senses to enjoy delights,
for the ease and freedom of my limbs,
for hands, eyes, ears that do thy bidding;
for thy royal bounty providing my daily support,
for a full table and overflowing cup,
for appetite, taste, sweetness,
for social joys of relatives and friends,
for ability to serve others,
for a heart that feels sorrows and necessities,
for a mind to care for my fellow-men,
for opportunities of spreading happiness around,
for loved ones in the joys of heaven,
for my own expectation of seeing thee clearly,
I love thee above the powers of language to express,
for what thou art to thy creatures.
Increase my love, O my God, through time and eternity.

For All The Blessings Of The Year

For all the blessings of the year,
For all the friends we hold so dear,
For peace on earth, both far and near,
We thank Thee, Lord.

For life and health, those common things,
Which every day and hour brings,
For home, where our affection clings,
We thank Thee, Lord.

For love of Thine, which never tires,
Which all our better thought inspires,
And warms our lives with heavenly fires,
We thank Thee, Lord.

~ Author unknown

Another one I posted last year, but I will just link to since someone else posted it for the “Giving Thanks” week already, is Edgar’s Guest’s “Thanksgiving.”

More Thanksgiving -related posts on this blog:

Thanksgiving Bible Study
Thanksgiving readings and devotionals are here.
Some Thanksgiving quotes are here.
More Thanksgiving quotes are here.
Thanksgiving “funnies” are here and A “Redneck Thanksgiving” is here.
More Thanksgiving poems are here.

Thy sea is great, our boats are small

Posted on August 2, 2007 by Barbara Harper

When I was a teen-ager, I saw a plaque or poster with a stylized painting of a boat on the sea with the saying, “O Lord, Thy sea is so great, and my boat is so small.” That saying resonated with me on many levels. Last week my pastor quoted part of a poem with a similar saying as a recurring line. I searched online for it and found it was a hymn from Henry J. van Dyke in 1922.

O Maker of the mighty deep
Whereon our vessels fare,
Above our life’s adventure keep
Thy faithful watch and care.