I see them open in the night,
just as dawn breaks on my sight.
One by one, I count now three--
gorgeous blooms of rare beauty!
What flowers shine so like the stars?
I see them through these dark cell bars!
Each shines with Christ's own purest white--
long-promised to the saints who fight
for Righteousness like Daniel when
he stood for God 'gainst evil men.
Each bears a message--can we hear?
"I bore my children, totalled eight!
I led them all toward Christ's own gate.
Mother love, and prayers not few,
will bring them, surely, to my view!
I fought for them, as long I could.
Tear and finger-marked, this Wood
the cross I bore and could not shun
not until each daughter, son,
trod straight the path to heaven's gate,
refusing lures and devil's bait!"
Berean-like, he held the Book,
no casual grasp, so light forsook
for worldly cares or worldly good--
this scholar-priest, God's Levite, stood
all his life for Jesus Christ,
the only truth that's all-sufficed
and full, complete, to make a soul
a child of God, not part, but whole.
"'Complete in Him,' was my refrain,
I've preached life-long as this life's gain.
'Complete in Him,' all less now stands
beside the Cross, Christ's Work, like sands!
Joy and triumph are His gift,
all other things like dust heaps drift.
My wife, my son, they have one aim,
they're praising only the Lord's Name!"
The third was young, his span cut short,
a race 'gainst time across the court!
He finished, though, his last ball thrown--
a life that was full-orbed, Christ-grown.
See, the winning score upon the board?
It says, "Well done, for Christ the Lord."
Links to other sites
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Web
RON'S WRITINGS CENTRAL Tribute to Bernice New Main Linking Central The Linking Page for Road Maps Central for Svanoe Tributes Central for Tributes
