Poem January 31, 1953 Issue

SALVATION

Matthew 14:24-33

E. Lyndon Fairweather

It does not satisfy my needy state
That Christ should walk the stormy seas this night:
I wonder not. nor doubt, that Spirit's might
Should hold His well-loved Son inviolate.
But I must walk with him: I must step out
From matter's frail and vulnerable shell
That seems my sole defense against the swell
And boisterous winds that compass me about.
I too must claim my sonship, know the thrill
And buoyancy of God's uplifting grace.
Laugh at the stinging spindrift in my face.
Glimpse in the dark the brightness of His will.
Christ is no cold abstraction, nor a rare
And spectral far perfection; here at hand
Christ wakes our sluggard thought to understand
The joy of Love's dominion everywhere.
I, even I, through God, must banish fears,
Cast out the suffering demons of belief,
Stir sad dead hopes from sepulchers of grief,
Restore with beauty mankind's wasted years.
Mine the majestic, calm authority
To still the restless waves with heavenly power:
I must call wealth from dearth, and from the hour
Of dark defeat wrest final victory.