Poem September 11, 1948 Issue

ARISE AND EAT

Helen Packard Johnson

O Elijah, Elijah, King forlorn under a juniper tree,
Why do you here despair? What subtle error claims
You are forsaken of your God?
Arise and eat, for God has need of you,
And He will feed you in this wilderness.
This lonely spot is but a vestibule, a passageway
to greater understanding
Of all things spiritual, and you must make the journey.

For do you not remember it was God
Who sent you food by ravens at the brook?
Remember, too, the widow's meal and oil,
Which led both you and her, and her dear son,
Whom, even when she thought him dead,
You soon restored unto his mother's arms
As you declared God's steadfast word of Truth.

Remember how God sent the fire from heaven
Upon the altar which you built,
And, by so doing, proved to those about that He is God.
Long-wished-for rain then fell upon
The drought-parched earth and made it green again.