POETRY
By Lester LeMay
JOB’S PATIENCE
O land of Uz, in you a Foe his protest lodged
Against God’s awesome grace
And thrust Job toward a giant growth of faith.
His tests severe: offspring slashed by sword,
Wealth wrought to naught, and body burst
Entire with agonizing boils,
Till succor ceased.
Accusing comforters
Assailed him without a trace of grace,
Raised against Job’s innocence
High indictments.
Job pled for death,
Yet glimpsed a life hereafter.
Job cried to God for meeting; but with Mediator.
O’er blind mazes he Faith’s scaffold formed
Upreaching, inequities acceding,
Till, tempest-throated, God to Job’s queries hied
. . . And Job? He died.
Died first to pride, then to self expired.
God’s questions left him still enmired;
But raised him up a better man—
Equipped to pray, forgive, and long
Inspire others when they dare to reach
Beyond what’s always been,
And Faith extend to God beyond our ken.
Job’s patience was not aimed at men.
No, he got God to answer him.
Written after seeing THE BOOK OF JOB, a Kentucky Drama of the Biblical Job
HAIKU ON THE PAINTED DESERT
Tree, sea and Earth
fiery,
A billion years or so--
Lo! a jasper log!
A permanent rainbow
In a rock resides...
Arboreal jewelry
Gems set in clay
Old trees alive that way,
Forest fantastic!
Written 1971
WHAT MEAN THESE THINGS?
Question: The
holly wreath upon the door
Delights in cheerful beckoning
With blood-red berries in full store.
Pray tell, what is its reckoning?
Answer:
A wreath of thorns,
blood-stained, He wore
The crown of cruel jesting.
In silent suffering He proved
Love's potence as a blessing.
Question:
Evergreen, scent rising to
the sky,
Spruced incense held in pine-ish shape --
The Christmas tree delights us by
Its beauty. Can we its memories escape?
Answer:
Stark tree! Two
branches stained with red
Suspend the gift of God to man.
"And I, if I be lifted up
Will draw all men to Me," He planned.
Question: Gifts
for family, gifts for friends
Exchange and party gifts -- no ends
In sight of gifts . . . yet will I be
Satisfied with gifts for me?
Answer:
God gave a gift -- a
Son divine.
He gave a gift -- His life for mine.
One gift alone He asks from you --
Yourself, through Him, to be born anew.
Printed in The Lookout,
December 23, 1973