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