Lost Love

The spring came warm, and warmed my heart,
And soon its life began to part
Me from the frost that froze me fast
And make my icy lifeblood start.

And then the summer came at last;
My heart began to make repast
On poems and clouds and lovely things,
And soon the deathly chill was past.

But autumn's come, with frosty wings;
The former hopes he downward flings
As every leaf, like all the rain,
And now my heart less often sings—

Shall I anew taste winter's pain?
I think I must, and yet I fain
Would spring and summer know again,
Would spring and summer know again.

—May 2012. After Robert Frost.

Easter Hymn

Jesus lives, and with Him I;
Whence, O death, is fright betaken?
Jesus lives, and so shall I
At His call from death awaken.
He in light hath clothed me hence;
This shall be my confidence.

A Prayer for Family Worship

O Lord, Who knit our inward parts,
Unite in love our family's hearts
And teach us how to honor Thee,
Our worship giving cheerfully.
Teach us Thy Scripture's depths to plumb,
And to it for our bread to come,
And never let us empty go
But saving truth unto us show.

Teach us to seek Thy face in pray'r,
Beneath Thy wings, to rest us there,
And for our needs to turn to Thee
Who all things givest bountif'lly.
Teach us with joy Thy praise to sing
And hail Thee as our matchless King
And as our great redeeming Lord
Whose blood for us hath been outpoured.

Teach us Thy loving hand to see,
For all things, thanks to give to Thee,
And to extol Thy mighty pow'r,
Revealed to us from hour to hour.
Our lives let never go astray,
But keep us in Thy perfect way
And teach our feeble family
To always turn for strength to Thee.

—Sometime before 8/8/2011. To “Sweet Hour.”

The Perseverance of the Saints

God my Saviour this hath spoken
(He is not a lying man,
Nor can e'er His word be broken;
Doubteth any that He can?),
He will keep me, He will keep me,
This the promise, proffered plain:
Saving grace will not be vain.

Death, Where Now Hath Gone Thy Stinging?

Death, where now hath gone thy stinging?
Fled it at my Lord’s forth-springing!
Grave, hath hence thy vict’ry vanish’d?
Christ thy hellish host hath banish’d!
Though thou didst me once imprison,
Christ from out thy bonds is risen;
He me freeth from thy subjection
By His glorious resurrection!

Once my sin had quite enthrall’d me;
High within its gates I wall’d me.
It, the sting of death, had shown me
How the Law did quite disown me,
Yet the guilt that o’er me reigned
Could not stay His hand, Who deigned
On a wretch to show His pleasure:
Mercy great in greatest measure.

Christ, Thou, great High Priest in Heaven,
As my Paschal Lamb wast given;
Thou aton’d’st for my transgression
And now makest intercession
To Thy Father, Who doth know Thee
And hath plac’d all things below Thee:
He doth love Thee for Thy bleeding—
He shall rule as Thou art pleading.

Praise to Thee that deign’d to love me
Though Thy Law was quite above me;
Through Thy Christ Thou gain’d’st the vict’ry
And from death to life hast quick’d me;
Thou hast promis’d life immortal;
Now is death but Heaven’s portal.
Made was I to this end for Thee:
E’er to ceaselessly adore Thee.

—4/18/11? On 1 Cor 15:55-57. To “Schmücke Dich.”

Break Unto Us the Living Bread

Break unto us the living Bread
Which Thou hast promised Thine;
Keep ever Thou our spirits fed
And with Thee let us dine,
That we may rest at peace in Thee
And Thou in us reside,
For never shall we hunger see
While with Thee we abide.

Faith, Hope, & Love

My faith is in the God of grace
And in His pow'r to save me;
He sent His Son to take my place
And His own Spirit gave me.
I cannot see it, but I know
His wondrous grace hath made it so;
In Him I am established.

My hope is in God's faithful Word;
He said He would remake me
In His own likeness - sweet accord!
When death shall overtake me.
He hath not done it yet, but will;
Till then I can be certain still:
His Word may ne'er be broken.

The love I bear unto my Head
I have, for He first loved me,
And when I was in trespass dead,
He quicked my heart and moved me.
Though yet I love Him and adore,
I pray for grace to love Him more -
How else should I repay Him?

My faith, my hope, and all my love
I give to God, their sender,
But when I am at rest above,
Two shall repay their lender:
For unto sight shall faith be turned,
And hope shall see for what it yearned,
But love shall be for ever!

—2/14/2011. On 1 Cor 13:13. To “Mit Freuden Zart.”

The Second Coming

The saints, whose names fill Heaven's roll,
Their ardent praises e'er outpour,
Yet all await the sev'n-sealed scroll.
And silence great doth still their roar
As now is giv'n the Lamb His right;
He wicked husbandmen doth send
His wrath in searing pain and fright,
With flame and plague the earth doth rend.

On steed of white descendeth He,
Fire in His eyes, His words a sword!
When His dread Holiness they see,
All nations own Him as their Lord
Too late; He judgeth them in might,
The earth doth raze and form anew,
Doth bring Jerus'lem down in light,
And reigneth there, fore'er in view!

—9/4/2010? On Rev 4-22. To “Jerusalem (Parry)” (“And did those feet, in ancient time”).

Tonight have I supp’d with the heroes of old,
And the things that I heard were more seemly than gold
Of the deeds of the past that were gracious and bold.
Oh! I fain would have stayed 'til the night had turn’d cold
As I hark’d to those heroes of old.

—13 August 2010

Election

Sinful and wretched one, what canst thou glory,
Who, for thy sin, stoodest justly condemned,
But that the Lord, ere Creation, foreknew thee,
Did for thy guilt His atonement send?

Though thou despised Him, yet did He save thee:
'Twas not of thee nor of deeds thou hadst done;
Great is His grace, and He gave it thee freely,
Cleansed thee of wickedness, made thee son.

Kept of the Blessed One, what can destroy thee?
Who thine adoption shall render it null?
Thou hast been sealed of the Lord, unto glory;
Thou of His Spirit hast been made full.

Worm that a son wast made, that shalt thou glory!
Boast in thy Father's unfath'mable love!
Speak to the world His immeas'rable mercy;
Bid men pray God wrath and sin remove.

—8/8/2010. To “Russian Hymn.”