"Riding Through Jerusalem" by Marion Susan Campbell : Christ in Poetry

RIDING THROUGH JERUSALEM
by Marion Susan Campbell

I thought it strange he asked for me,
   And bade me carry him,
The noblest one of all the earth,
   Into Jerusalem!

But rumor goes he loved the meek
   And such on him might call,
That may be why he trusted me
   The humblest beast of all.

Yet though he was so great and wise
   Unequaled in his might,
I scarcely knew I bore a King,
   So light he rode -- so light!

They sang Hosannah in the streets,
   But I have heard men say
The only time they praised their King
   Was when he rode that day.

Men pushed and shouted all around,
   The air was thick with cries,
They spread their garments at my feet,
   And palms before mine eyes.

They strewed the narrow road with boughs
   And barred my path again --
But the tenderest hand I ever felt
   Was on my bridle chain.


Source: Christ in Poetry (1952), an anthology compiled and edited by Thomas Curtis Clark and Hazel Davis Clark

"My Garden" by Thomas Edward Brown (1830-1897)

"The fool hath said in his heart, 'There is no God.'" So begins a Psalm of David, Psalm 14, in the King James Version of the Bible. Manx poet, scholar and teacher Thomas Edward Brown, who was also a theologian, was a wise man who believed there is a God. Here is a poem of his about his garden and about God.


MY GARDEN

A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot!
Rose plot,
   Fringed pool,
Ferned grot --
   The veriest school
   Of peace; and yet the fool
Contends that God is not --
Not God! in gardens! when the eve is cool?
      Nay, but I have a sign;
      'Tis very sure God walks in mine.

From the Thirty-seventh Psalm : The Bible

The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom,
And the tongue talketh of judgment.
The law of his God is in his heart;
None of his steps shall slide.
     -- The Bible: Psalm 37:30-31 (King James Version)

The good mouth will in wisdom bide,
             His tongue of heavenly judgments telleth;
             For God's high law in his heart dwelleth:
What comes thereof? he shall not slide.
     -- Philip Sidney (1554-1586)

"Prosperity Comes from the Lord" : The King James Bible

PROSPERITY COMES FROM THE LORD
from the Bible: Psalm 127 (King James Version)

Except the Lord build the house,
They labor in vain that build it:
Except the Lord keep the city,
The watchman waketh but in vain.
It is vain for you to rise up early,
To sit up late,
To eat the bread of sorrows:
For so he giveth his beloved sleep.

Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord:
And the fruit of the womb is his reward.
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man;
So are children of the youth.
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them:
They shall not be ashamed,
But they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

"You Are Old, Father William" by Lewis Carroll - Poem of the Day

Listen to a recording of an unnamed woman reading this humorous poem, a poem that is good for children . . . and also good for adults: You Are Old, Father William - Poem of the Day

Lewis Carroll

(Born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson in 1832,

he was an English mathematician and writer

who died in 1898.)

"The Final Say: Nothing" by Monty Gilmer

THE FINAL SAY: NOTHING

by Monty Gilmer

When you have nothing to say, say nothing.

     -- Charles Caleb Colton (1780-1832)

I have nothing to say

and I am saying it       and that is

poetry.

     -- John Cage (1912-1992)