Poem January 30, 1954 Issue

UP FROM BETHESDA

Carol Earle Chapin

Are we, as was that victim long ago,
Asleep beside Bethesda, reckoning
As real some dreamed-of empty dream or fear:
A sickness, grief, or sin, or personal sense?
Then let us heed the threefold call of him
For whom such things were opportunities
To know and prove the allness of God's power.

"Rise," Christ Jesus said.

An honest effort, pure humility,
Can rise above each claim of apathy.
Our thought must dwell above the mortal dream,
Undimmed by taint or weariness of earth.

"Take up thy bed," he said.

We must be ruthless with false premises,
Enticing false beliefs to rest upon,
And find the Comforter, a strengthening
Uplift of Love, one Mind's omnipotence.

"And walk," the Christ demands.

Then having lifted up our thought and cast
Away the false, are we now giving proof,
With joy, of simplest and profoundest truths?
More than a score of years of suffering fled
At three commands beside that ancient pool.
The Christ, our Saviour, still presents to all
Its challenge, "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk."

Carol Earle Chapin

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