Poetry Saturday—In The Crucible

September 11, 2021 — Craig T. Owens

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Out from the mine and the darkness,
Out from the damp and the mold,
Out from the fiery furnace,
Cometh each grain of gold.
Crushed into atoms and leveled
Down to the humblest dust
With never a heart to pity,
With never a hand to trust.
Molten and hammered and beaten
Seemeth it ne’er to be done.
Oh, for such fiery trial,
What hath the poor gold done?
Oh, ‘twere a mercy to leave it
Down in the damp and the mold.
If this is the glory of living,
Then better to be dross than gold.
Under the press and the roller,
Into the jaws of the mint,
Stamped with the emblem of freedom,
With never a flaw or a dint.
Oh, what a joy, the refining,
Out of the damp and the mold.
And stamped with the glorious image,
Oh beautiful coin of gold! —Anonymous


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Poetry Saturday—Clasping Of Hands

September 4, 2021 — Craig T. Owens 




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Lord, Thou art mine, and I am Thine,


If mine I am: and Thine much more,


Then I or ought, or can be mine.


Yet to be Thine, doth me restore;


So that again I now am mine,


And with advantage mine the more,


Since this being mine, brings with it Thine,


And Thou with me dost Thee restore.


         If I without Thee would be mine,


         I neither should be mine nor Thine.




Lord, I am Thine, and Thou art mine:


So mine Thou art, that something more


I may presume Thee mine, then Thine.


For Thou didst suffer to restore


Not Thee, but me, and to be mine,


And with advantage mine the more,


Since Thou in death wast none of Thine,


Yet then as mine didst me restore.


         O be mine still! still make me Thine!


         Or rather make no Thine and Mine! —George Herbert









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Poetry Saturday—Sun Of My Soul

August 28, 2021 — Craig T. Owens 




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Sun of my soul, Thou Savior dear,


It is not night if Thou be near;


Oh, may no earthborn cloud arise


To hide Thee from Thy servant’s eyes.




When the soft dews of kindly sleep


My wearied eyelids gently steep,


Be my last thought of how sweet to rest


Forever on my Savior’s breast.




Abide with me from morn till eve,


For without Thee I cannot live;


Abide with me when night is nigh,


For without Thee I dare not die.




Come near, and bless us when we wake,


Ere through the world our way we take;


Till in the ocean of Thy love


We lose ourselves in Thee above. —John Keble




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Poetry Saturday—The Wond’ring World Inquires To Know

August 21, 2021 — Craig T. Owens 




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The wond’ring world inquires to know


Why I should love my Jesus so:


“What are His charms,” say they, “above


The objects of a mortal love?”




Yes! my Beloved, to my sight


Shows a sweet mixture, red and white:


All human beauties, all divine,


In my Beloved meet and shine.




White is His soul, from blemish free;


Red with the blood He shed for me;


The fairest of ten thousand fairs;


A sun amongst ten thousand stars.




His head the finest gold excels;


There wisdom in perfection dwells,


And glory like a crown adorns


Those temples once beset with thorns.




Compassions in His heart are found,


Hard by the signals of His wound:


His sacred side no more shall bear


The cruel scourge, the piercing spear.




His hands are fairer to behold


Than diamonds set in rings of gold;


Those heav’nly hands, that on the Tree


Were nailed, and torn, and bled for me!




Though once He bowed His feeble knees,


Loaded with sins and agonies,


Now on the throne of His command


His legs like marble pillars stand.




His eyes are majesty and love,


The eagle tempered with the dove;


No more shall trickling sorrows roll


Through those dear windows of His soul.




His mouth, that poured out long complaints,


Now smiles and cheers His fainting saints


His countenance more graceful is


Than Lebanon with all its trees.




All over glorious is my Lord


Must be beloved, and yet adored;


His worth if all the nations knew,


Sure the whole earth would love Him too. —Isaac Watts




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Poetry Saturday—Love Asserting Herself

August 14, 2021 — Craig T. Owens 




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And have I, Christ, no love for Thee,


No passion for Thy charms?


No wish my Saviour’s face to see,


And dwell within His arms?




Is there no spark of gratitude


In this cold heart of mine,


To Him whose generous bosom glow’d


With friendship all divine?




Can I pronounce His charming name,


His acts of kindness tell;


And while I dwell upon the theme,


No sweet emotion feel?




Such base ingratitude as this


What heart but must detest!


Sure Christ deserves the noblest place


In every human breast.




A very wretch, Lord! I should prove,


Had I no love for Thee:


Rather than not my Saviour love,


Oh may I cease to be! —Samuel Stennett




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Poetry Saturday—Three Friends

August 7, 2021 — Craig T. Owens 




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Of all the blessings which my life has known,


I value most, and most praise God for three:


Want, Loneliness, and Pain, those comrades true,




Who masqueraded in the garb of foes


For many a year, and filled my heart with dread.


Yet fickle joys, like false, pretentious friends,


Have proved less worthy than this trio. First,




Want taught me labour, led me up the steep


And toilsome paths to hills of pure delight,


Tried only by the feet that know fatigue,


And yet press on until the heights appear.




Then loneliness and hunger of the heart


Sent me upreaching to the realms of space,


Till all the silences grew eloquent,


And all their loving forces hailed me friend.




Last, pain taught prayer! placed in my hand the staff


Of close communion with the over-soul,


That I might lean upon it to the end,


And find myself made strong for any strife.




And then these three who had pursued my steps


Like stern, relentless foes, year after year,


Unmasked, and turned their faces full on me,


And lo! they were divinely beautiful,


For through them shown the lustrous eyes of Love. —Ella Wheeler Wilcox




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Poetry Saturday—The Neglected Pattern

July 31, 2021 — Craig T. Owens 




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A weaver sat one day at his loom,


Among the colors bright,


With the pattern for his copying


Hung fair and plain in sight.




But the weaver’s thoughts were wandering


Away on a distant track,


As he threw the shuttle in his hand


Wearily forward and back.




And he turned his dim eyes to the ground,


And his tears fell on the woof,


For his thoughts, alas! were not with his home,


Nor the wife beneath its roof.




When her voice recalled him suddenly


To himself, as she sadly said:


“Ah! woe is me! for your work is spoiled,


And what will we do for bread?”




And then the weaver looked and saw


His work must be undone;


For the threads were wrong, and the colors dimmed


Where the bitter tears had run.




“Alack, alack!” said the weaver,


“And this had all been right


If I had not looked at my work, but kept


The pattern in my sight!”




Ah! sad it was for the weaver,


And sad for his luckless wife;


And sad it will be for us if we say,


At the end of our task in life,




The colors that we had to weave


Were bright in our early years;


But we wove the tissue wrong, and stained


The woof with bitter tears.




We wove a web of doubt and fear—


Not faith, and hope and love,


Because we looked at our work, and not


At our Pattern up above. —Phoebe Cary




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Poetry Saturday—The Church A Garden

July 24, 2021 — Craig T. Owens 




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Christ hath a garden walled around,


A Paradise of fruitful ground,


Chosen by love and fenced by grace


From out the world’s wide wilderness.




Like trees of spice His servants stand,


There planted by His mighty hand;


By Eden’s gracious streams, that flow


To feed their beauty where they grow.




Awake, O wind of heav’n and bear


Their sweetest perfume through the air:


Stir up, O south, the boughs that bloom,


Till the beloved Master come:




That He may come, and linger yet


Among the trees that He hath set;


That He may evermore be seen


To walk amid the springing green. —Isaac Watts




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Poetry Saturday—Why Art Thou Weary?

July 17, 2021 — Craig T. Owens 




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Sad heart, why art thou weary


With anxious strivings drear?


Thou hast no cause for sadness,


No cause for restless fear.


Thou longest for thy Master,


Then cease and be at rest;


For shall not He who made thee


Know what for thee is best? —Oswald Chambers


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Poetry Saturday—A Nation’s Strength

July 3, 2021 — Craig T. Owens 




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What makes a nation’s pillars high


And its foundations strong?


What makes it mighty to defy


The foes that round it throng?




It is not gold. Its kingdoms grand


Go down in battle shock;


Its shafts are laid on sinking sand,


Not on abiding rock.




Is it the sword? Ask the red dust


Of empires passed away;


The blood has turned their stones to rust,


Their glory to decay.




And is it pride? Ah, that bright crown


Has seemed to nations sweet;


But God has struck its luster down


In ashes at His feet.




Not gold but only men can make


A people great and strong;


Men who for truth and honor’s sake


Stand fast and suffer long.




Brave men who work while others sleep,


Who dare while others fly…


They build a nation’s pillars deep


And lift them to the sky. —Ralph Waldo Emerson




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