Poem April 20, 1946 Issue

Gethsemane

HAZEL HARPER BRANDNER

The Master yearned for proven loyalty
And asked his dearest friends to watch—to stay
Their consciousness in Truth—that he might pray
With their support, for he could plainly see
The outline of the cross on Calvary.
But they allowed their faithless thoughts to stray,
And fell asleep when at the close of day
Dark shadows overspread Gethsemane.
When other men have need to pray apart
In facing grim ordeals and vainly call
On friends to stand against befogging lures,
They test their own true Christliness of heart,
For in Gethsemane love conquers all
If, meeting no response, it still endures.