Poem March 27, 1937 Issue

Peter

EDITH A. WESTERBERG

Peter loved the Master.
When Jesus walked in Galilee,
Beside that gemlike Syrian sea,
His gentle presence called,
And Peter came.
And to the Master, Peter gave the fullest measure of that zeal
which flames in ardent love.
Day after day he followed him, in lowly Nazareth,
On hillside slopes, or on the mountaintop of clearest knowing,
Privileged to hear with understanding ears
The words that would not pass away.

And then the testing came. "I know him not"! Thus to the maiden
in the outer court,
While Jesus stood reviled before the mocking scribes; and Peter
thrice denied his Lord.
But when the cock had crowed, how bitterly did Peter weep as
Jesus' words of prophecy
Found entrance to his fear-beclouded thoughts, and showed how
grievously
Such fear had made him fail the Master.
But midst that fount of tears he found the cleansing power of true
repentance,
So that on a later day, after the triumph of the resurrection,
Jesus could give to zealous Peter, with a tender love,
The heavenly command to "feed my sheep."

Thus to the now awakened Peter, firm in faith,
Loyal to this behest,
Came opportunity so many times to show that he was true—
True to the Christ, to Truth, to be made manifest in Christlike
ways of healing sin, disease, and even death itself;
For in that living faith, he could with surety turn from the woeful
evidence of death and say, "Tabitha, arise"!
And she arose.
Yes, Peter loved the Master!

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