Can We Give Ourselves Up to God?

David Mendelsohn of Ontario, Canada, wrote the poem below, a poem about the 1993 famine in Sudan. This poem was first published almost thirty years ago under the headline "Can We Give Ourselves Up To God?" on page 3 of the June 4, 1993, edition of The United Methodist Review (a newspaper that was published every other week by the United Methodist Communication Council in Dallas, Texas).

From the air she seemed fertile --

Fertile and green and growing,

And abundant with life and water and flowing,

And flowing and winding,

And soothing and giving and pure . . .

And I thought she was the Mississippi --

The mighty Mississippi:

A mighty winding river --

A strong and mighty giver

Of life:

Feeding the people,

Feeding the poor . . .

But all below was death.

And skin on bones --

And flies on skin,

And flies on eyes,

And withered walking corpses,

And bloated starving children,

And faces without hope,

And eyes of blank despair,

Deep in this heart of darkness --

So black and dead:

This lifeless hell of Southern Sudan . . .

And I?

I live in a basement:

A small grey casement,

In a towering city

Of steel and concrete,

Of silver and gold --

Where men are bought,

And souls are sold.

And I have clothes,

And I have food;

And I have shelter from the cold . . .

And so I ask:

Can I give myself up to God?

I must.

You must.

We must --

Raise these children from the dust . . .

Nowadays in South Sudan there is a new front line of climate change after historic flooding. To read about that new front line and to watch a video report from David Muir of "ABC World News Tonight" about it, click here.

"Hugh's Views: The Old Elway Reader" is my free

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The Lord Is My Shepherd

In the King James Version of the Bible, Isaiah 43:2-3 reads, "'When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour . . .'" American poet Emily Dickinson, as if quoting the Lord, once wrote, "'Though thou walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I will be with thee.'" In the King James Version of the Bible, Psalm 23, a Psalm of David, reads:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:

he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul:

he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;

thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:

thou anointest my head with oil;

my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

God Answered Johnny Reb's Unspoken Prayers

This is my revision of the anonymous, inspirational poem "Answered Prayer," which is attributed to an unknown Confederate soldier.

I asked God for strength

that I might achieve.

He made me weak

that I might learn humbly to obey.

I asked God for health

that I might do greater things.

He gave me infirmity

that I might do better things.

I asked God for riches

that I might be happy.

He gave me poverty

that I might be wise.

I asked God for power

that I might have the praise of men.

He gave me weakness

that I might feel the need of God.

I asked God for all things

that I might enjoy life.

He gave me life

that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing that I asked God for --

but everything I had hoped for.

Almost despite myself,

God answered my unspoken prayers.

I am among all men most richly blessed.

 

Foolish Woman, the Dead Are Thine

THE FOOLISH WOMAN

from the Bible: Proverbs 9:13-18

(King James Version)

A foolish woman is clamorous:

she is simple, and knoweth nothing.

For she sitteth at the door of her house,

on a seat in the high places of the city,

to call passengers

who go right on their ways:

"Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither":

and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him,

"Stolen waters are sweet,

and bread eaten in secret is pleasant."

But he knoweth not that the dead are there;

and that her guests are in the depths of hell.

"HE KNOWETH NOT THAT THE DEAD ARE THINE"

by Mary Elizabeth Coleridge (1861-1907)

The weapon that you fought with was a word,

And with that word you stabbed me to the heart.

Not once but twice you did it, for the sword

       Made no blood start.

They have not tried you for your life. You go

Strong in such innocence as men will boast.

They have not buried me. They do not know

       Life from its ghost.

Lotus

"Lotus" is a found poem of mine in which the first sentence is a Chinese proverb, the second sentence is a Japanese proverb and the third sentence is a Zen proverb. I dedicate this poem to my maternal grandmother, whose first name was Lotus.

The lotus springs from

The mud. The lotus flower

Blooms in the mud. May

I live like the lotus, at

Ease in the muddy water.

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Hugh's Views: The Old Elway Reader is a free email newsletter about life in general and especially about Christian life in bits of poetry and in other things. To subscribe to this newsletter and support the work of its author click here.

A Pair of Christmas Poems: January 4 and 5

Here is a pair of Christmas poems that I wrote for January 4 and 5. The first poem is a tanka, and the second is a haiku. The final two lines of the tanka are quoted from an anonymous nursery rhyme.

Eleventh day of

Christmas. Among eleven

pipers piping was

Tom, Tom, the piper's son. He

learned to play when he was young.

Twelfth day of Christmas.

Among twelve drummers drumming

was one little boy.

To read about the Twelve Days of Christmas click here.