"Poem on Reputation: A Good Name" : The King James Bible

POEM ON REPUTATION: A GOOD NAME
from the Bible: Proverbs 22:1 (King James Version)

A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches,
And loving favor rather than silver and gold.

John Denver sings "Some Days Are Diamonds (Some Days Are Stone)" (Remastered)

"The Sixty-seventh Psalm" by John Davies

Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States. Here, for Thanksgiving Day, is a Biblical poem, Psalm 67 as rendered by poet John Davies (1569-1626). This Biblical poem is "A Psalm or Song" exhorting the nations to praise God.


THE SIXTY-SEVENTH PSALM
by John Davies

Show us thy mercy, Lord, and grace divine;
Turn thy bright face, that it on us may shine,
That all the men on earth enlightened so,
Their own salvation, and thy ways may know.
O let thy people praise thy blessed name,
And let all tongues and nations do the same,
And let all mortal men rejoice in this,
That God their judge and just his judgment is.
O let thy people praise thy blessed name,
And let all tongues and nations do the same,
Then shall the earth bring forth a rich increase,
And God shall bless us with a fruitful peace;
Even God shall bless us and his holy fear
Possess the hearts of all men everywhere.


Source: The Poets' Book of Psalms (1995), Compiled, Edited, and Introduced by Laurance Wieder

Morning Prayer: Fellowship (Anonymous)

MORNING PRAYER: FELLOWSHIP
Anonymous

A found poem by Monty Gilmer
from A Pocket Prayer Book and Devotional Guide (1941),
compiled by Ralph Spalding Cushman

As the hart panteth after the water brooks,
So panteth my soul after thee, O God.
In thy presence is fullness of joy;
At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

I thank thee, Lord, for a thousand things,
The earth, the sky, the rolling sea,
The summer and the winter,
The springtime and the harvest field;
But none of these can feed
The hunger of my soul gor thee.
Beyond all things, above all loves,
I seek thee, Lord.
O grant me fellowship with thee this day.
In Jesus' name. Amen.

From "The Lord Delivers from Trouble" (Psalm 107:1, 8-9, 22)

FROM "THE LORD DELIVERS FROM TROUBLE"
from the Bible: Psalm 107:1, 8-9, 22 (King James Version)

O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good:
For his mercy endureth for ever.

Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness,
And for his wonderful works to the children of men!
For he satisfieth the longing soul,
And filleth the hungry soul with goodness.

Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving,
And declare his works with rejoicing.

A verse from the Book of Amos : The Bible, New King James Version

From the Bible: Amos 5:8 (New King James Version)

He made the Pleiades and Orion;
He turns the shadow of death into morning
And makes the day dark as night;
He calls for the waters of the sea
And pours them out on the face of the earth;
The Lord is His name.

"The Law of Love" by Paul : The Bible

THE LAW OF LOVE
A found poem from The New Oxford Annotated Bible:
Romans 12:9-18 (Revised Standard Version)
by Paul

Let love be genuine;
hate what is evil,
hold fast to what is good;
love one another with brotherly affection;
outdo one another in showing honor.
Never flag in zeal,
be aglow with the Spirit,
serve the Lord.
Rejoice in your hope,
be patient in tribulation,
be constant in prayer.
Contribute to the needs of the saints,
practice hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you;
bless and do not curse them.
Rejoice with those who rejoice,
weep with those who weep.
Live in harmony with one another;
do not be haughty,
but associate with the lowly;
never be conceited.
Repay no one evil for evil,
but take thought for what is noble
in the sight of all.
If possible,
so far as it depends upon you,
live peaceably with all.

"The Gettysburg Address" by Abraham Lincoln

On this day in 1863, according to the Associated Press, "President Abraham Lincoln dedicated a national cemetery at the site of the Civil War battlefield of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania."


THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS
Delivered at the site of the Civil War battlefield
of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania
on November 19, 1863,
by Abraham Lincoln

Fourscore and seven years ago
our fathers brought forth upon this continent
a new nation,
conceived in liberty,
and dedicated to the proposition
that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war,
testing whether that nation,
or any nation so conceived and so dedicated,
can long endure.
We are met on a great battlefield
of that war.
We have come to dedicate
a portion of that field
as a final resting place
for those who here gave their lives
that that nation might live.
It is altogether fitting and proper
that we should do this.
But in a larger sense
we cannot dedicate,
we cannot consecrate,
we cannot hallow this ground.
The brave men, living and dead,
who struggled here,
have consecrated it
far above our poor power to add or detract.
The world will little note,
nor long remember,
what we say here;
but it can never forget
what they did here.
It is for us, the living,
rather to be dedicated here
to the unfinished work
which they who fought here
have thus far so nobly advanced.
It is rather for us to be here dedicated
to the great task remaining before us,
that from these honored dead
we take increased devotion
to that cause for which they gave
the last full measure of devotion;
that we here highly resolve
that these dead shall not have died in vain;
that this nation, under God,
shall have a new birth of freedom,
and that government
of the people, by the people, and for the people,
shall not perish from the earth.


Source: Poems Old and New (1957), selected for boys and girls by Helen Farris

President Lincoln in 1861

"Believing the Best" by Anonymous

BELIEVING THE BEST
Anonymous

I have believed the best of every man,
And find that to believe it is enough
To make a bad man show him at his best,
Or even a good man swing his lantern higher.


Source: Words of Life (1966), edited by Charles L. Wallis

A quotation from Owen Wister on believing

     It was neither preaching nor praying that made a better man of me, but one or two people who believed in me better than I deserved, and I hated to disappoint them.
     OWEN WISTER (1860-1938)
     Quoted in Words of Life (1966),
     edited by Charles L. Wallis

Owen Wister

American writer

Indian Summer: A Quotation from Emily Dickinson

These Indian-Summer Days

with their peculiar Peace

remind me of those stillest things

that no one can disturb.

-- Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Source: New Poems of Emily Dickinson (1993),

edited by William H. Shurr

with Anna Dunlap & Emily Grey Shurr

Emily Dickinson

American poet

"A Special Prayer for Our Nation" by an Author Unknown

"When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice:

But when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn."

(The Bible: Proverbs 29:2, King James Version)

     "We humbly thank Thee, Almighty God, for the many blessings which Thou hast given to our country, and add this, O Lord, to Thy other mercies, that we may be enabled to use them better to Thy service. O take from among us all contempt of Thy Word and commandments. Break down all the barriers of selfishness and ignorance which keep men from Thee. Convince the impenitent of the misery of sin, and comfort the brokenhearted with the assurance of Thy love. Teach us all to be evangelistic, not in word only, but in everything which we do. This we ask in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen." -- Author Unknown

Source of the prayer above: A Pocket Prayer Book and Devotional Guide (1941), compiled by Ralph Spalding Cushman and published by The Upper Room, upperroom.org 

Emily Dickinson on dreaming about her father

I dream about father every night,

always a different dream,

and forget what I am doing daytimes,

wondering where he is.

Without any body, I keep thinking.

What kind can that be?

-- Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Source: New Poems of Emily Dickinson (1993),

edited by William H. Shurr

with Anna Dunlap & Emily Grey Shurr

Emily Dickinson

American poet

A quotation from Emily Dickinson about November

November always seemed to me

the Norway of the year.

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

American poet

A Poem on Humility, from the King James Bible

A POEM ON HUMILITY
from the Bible: Proverbs 15:33, 18:12 (King James Version)

The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom;
And before honor is humility.

Before destruction the heart of man is haughty;
And before honor is humility.

Indian Summer: An Untitled Poem by Emily Dickinson

Indian summer:
"These are the days when Birds come back -- "
by Emily Dickinson

These are the days when Birds come back --
A very few -- a Bird or two --
To take a backward look.

These are the days when skies resume
The old -- old sophistries of June --
A blue and gold mistake.

Oh fraud that cannot cheat the Bee --
Almost thy plausibility
Induces my belief.

Till ranks of seeds their witness bear --
And softly thro' the altered air
Hurries a timid leaf.

Oh Sacrament of summer days,
Oh Last Communion in the Haze --
Permit a child to join.

Thy sacred emblems to partake --
Thy consecrated bread to take
And thine immortal wine!

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

American poet

"New Farm Tractor" by Carl Sandburg (1878-1967)

This Remembrance Day (as they call it in Canada) is the tenth anniversary of the death of my father, who was a veteran American farmer. I dedicate this poem by American author Carl Sandburg to the memory of my father Hugh M. Gilmer (1914-2006), who grew up on a farm and who for most of his adult life was a full-time farmer. He never had a mule, Mr. Sandburg. But before he bought his first farm tractor, he did have two draft horses, a Belgian and a Percheron, that he used on his farm. He retired from farming at the age of 89.


NEW FARM TRACTOR
from Smoke and Steel (1920)
by Carl Sandburg

Snub nose, the guts of twenty mules are in your cylinders and transmission.
The rear axles hold the kick of twenty Missouri jackasses.
It is in the records of the patent office and the ads there is twenty horse power pull here.
The farm boy says hello to you instead of twenty mules -- he sings to you instead of ten span of
        mules.
A bucket of oil and a can of grease is your hay and oats.
Rain proof and fool proof they stable you anywhere in the fields with the stars for a roof.
I carve a team of long ear mules on the steering wheel -- it's good-by now to leather reins and the
        songs of the old mule skinners.

"God's Only Begotten Son": A poem of Jesus Christ

GOD'S ONLY BEGOTTEN SON
A poem of Jesus Christ
from the Bible: John 3:16-18 (King James Version)

For God so loved the world,
That he gave his only begotten Son,
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
But have everlasting life.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world;
But that the world through him might be saved.
He that believeth on him is not condemned:
But he that believeth not is condemned already,
Because he hath not believed in the name
Of the only begotten Son of God.

Four Ways a Man May Give a Gift

FOUR WAYS A MAN MAY GIVE A GIFT

Adapted by Monty Gilmer

from notes written by Evelyn M. Gilmer (1923-2016)

     The first way a man may give a gift is as a duty. He might pay an account, or he might send a remittance to a tax collector. He might do so with reluctance or with such a bad grace that it would be almost better not to do so at all.

     The second way a man may give a gift is to find self-satisfaction. He thinks more of his own pleasant feeling than he does of the feelings of the person receiving the gift. To give for satisfaction more than from any real desire to help is in essence selfish giving. One is giving a gift to oneself rather than to another person.

     The third way a man may give a gift is from motives of prestige. The real source of giving in this case is not love but pride. A gift is given not to help but to glorify the giver. Maybe the gift is even given to pile up credit with God, as if any man could put God in his debt.

     The fourth way a man may give a gift is under love's compulsion. Although the other three ways are not wholly bad because the gift was given, this fourth one is the only real way to give. Where love is the motive, one cannot help giving, because the sight of a soul in need awakens a desire that cannot be silenced or stilled. This is, in fact, to give in God's way. It was because God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son (see John 3:16 in the Bible).

     As a Latin proverb says, "He gives twice who gives quickly." In other words, a prompt response to a request for something, such as money or help, is of greater value than a more generous offering given late. And yet, the finest gifts are given not when they are demanded but before they are asked for.

"God, the Chicken and the Egg" by Monty Gilmer

GOD, THE CHICKEN AND THE EGG

by Monty Gilmer

     Someone once said, "The chicken probably came before the egg because it is hard to imagine God wanting to sit on an egg."

     According to the Bible, the chicken (a "winged fowl" that is flightless) did come before the egg. Genesis 1:20-23 (King James Version) reads: "And God said, 'Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.' And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.' And the evening and the morning were the fifth day."

Ambrose Bierce on a vote and an elector

     In his satirical lexicon The Devil's Dictionary (1911) Ambrose Bierce defined a vote as "The instrument and symbol of a freeman's power to make a fool of himself and a wreck of his country." You remember Bierce. He was the fellow who identified an elector as "One who enjoys the sacred privilege of voting for the man of another man's choice."  -- Monty Gilmer

Ambrose Bierce (1842-ca. 1914)

American author

From "The Excellencies of God's Law" (Psalm 119:169-176)

FROM "THE EXCELLENCIES OF GOD'S LAW"
from the Bible: Psalm 119:169-176 (King James Version)

Let my cry come near before thee, O Lord:
Give me understanding according to thy word.
Let my supplication come before thee:
Deliver me according to thy word.
My lips shall utter praise,
When thou hast taught me thy statutes.
My tongue shall speak of thy word:
For all thy commandments are righteousness.
Let thine hand help me;
For I have chosen thy precepts.
I have longed for thy salvation, O Lord;
And thy law is my delight.
Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee;
And let thy judgments help me.
I have gone astray like a lost sheep:
Seek thy servant;
For I do not forget thy commandments.

From "The Excellencies of God's Law" (Psalm 119:161-168)

FROM "THE EXCELLENCIES OF GOD'S LAW"
from the Bible: Psalm 119:161-168 (King James Version
and New Revised Standard Version)

Princes have persecuted me without a cause:
But my heart standeth in awe of thy word.
I rejoice at thy word,
As one that findeth great spoil.
I hate and abhor lying:
But thy law do I love.
Seven times a day do I praise thee,
Because of thy righteous judgments.
Great peace have they which love thy law:
And nothing shall [make] them [stumble].
Lord, I have hoped for thy salvation,
And done thy commandments.
My soul hath kept thy testimonies;
And I love them exceedingly.
I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies:
For all my ways are before thee.

A Haiku by Kobayashi Issa

Don't get alarmed,

you corner spiders.

I won't touch your webs.

-- Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827),
who kept house casually

(Translated, from the Japanese, by Max Bickerton)

Source: The Classic Tradition of Haiku: An Anthology (1996),

edited by Faubion Bowers

Sonnet 59 by William Shakespeare

Sonnet 59: "If there be nothing new, but that which is"
by William Shakespeare

If there be nothing new, but that which is
Hath been before, how are our brains beguiled,
Which, laboring for invention, bear amiss
The second burden of a former child!
Oh that record could with a backward look,
Even of five hundred courses of the sun,
Show me your image in some antique book,
Since mind at first in character was done:
That I might see what the old world could say
To this composed wonder of your frame;
Whether we are mended, or whe'er better they,
Or whether revolution be the same.
   Oh, sure I am the wits of former days
   To subjects worse have given admiring praise.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

English dramatist and poet

Poetry: Two Quotations about November

From NO!
by Thomas Hood

No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
   No comfortable feel in any member --
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
   No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds, --
      November!


From CALENDAR OF HAIKU*
by Jane Merchant

NOVEMBER

Gray day of no blooms
Save briefly, just before dark,
Chrysanthemum sun.

*Source: Together magazine, January 1972

"November Night" by Adelaide Crapsey

NOVEMBER NIGHT
A cinquain by Adelaide Crapsey (1878-1914)

Listen . . .
With faint dry sound,
Like steps of passing ghosts,
The leaves, frost-crisp'd, break from the trees
And fall.


Source: Verse (1915) by Adelaide Crapsey

Adelaide Crapsey

American poet