FEATHER *

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.
                                                                                                --Psalm 23:4

Far am I-- far am I--
Caught in this tangled, tilted night--
Not a one can answer me
My heart is carried, how?

There, there, little one, alone
Born in fragile, hollow bones;
That beaten heart-- calls desperately:
(The soul seeks flight and song.)

Fallen child with splintered eyes
Weeping as the world spins by.
So far am I, forgive me:
Your Kingdom veiled-- so verdantly.

So what of these-- dream, love, world--
Every effort fails, unfurled
But Heaven, still, I long to know
(Yet the place where martyrs go.)

Oh, far am I, far am I--
Whispers, sometimes screams fall by
Kaleidoscopes that twist the sky--
A dying world's delusive sigh.

Then this entrust to Heaven's wing--
The faltered heartbeat, fluttering.
From span to span-- uplifted, so--
Bottled tears-- repentance known.

Of precious hope in Christ, I sing
In tribulations worshiping.
Far was I, yet gathered--
My Savior carries all.



--Abby Elizabeth Charland

THE PATIENCE OF THE SAINTS *

The Earth totters in a pool of stars
in her sparkled slip of sky;
Narrow edges of clouds ignite
As Time hurtles by.

Heavenly Father, we plead thy mercy,
Do not in anger turn away--
From the folly of your people
Proud minds in disarray--

Might strange storms rise up, for warning--
And lightning bend the stubborn knee--
That they might tremble at thy glory---
O let the blinded see!

For men prepare for war, in darkness
And betrayal will adorn chosen souls:
Martyrs, caught-- for glory
For Jesus' sake-- brought low.

The Eternal One, ever watches
And his righteous wrath will fall.
We are strangers here-- and hated;
We are hunted down-- but called--

Ever following the Lord Jesus, ever praising:
His blood-- his tears, bequeathed--
Behold: the startling mercy
That covers, and entreats.

For if in faith there might be sorrow
Let us not dread the task thereof--
The Lord Jesus regards our helpless ache
And lifts us, tenderly-- to love.

                                                                        ~Abby Elizabeth Charland

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Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name's sake.


                                              --Psalm 79:9