Poem June 11, 1955 Issue

"HERE AM I"

Carol Earle Chapin

The patriarchs were never far from God.

While Moses tended sheep, he listened long
In desert stillness for the voice of Him
Who made all things, and when it came,
Immediately he answered, "Here am I."
He did not hide himself from God's demands,
And doubts were surely met by earnest wish
To have Mind use him in Mind's own vast plan.

And Abraham, advanced in years, replied
Unfaltering to his Father's call. And when
He knew the measure of the test, his faith
Failed not: he trudged the mountainous way, prepared
To sacrifice his God-sent child, so full
Of promise. Obediently, at crisis' peak,
When angels called above his grief, he cried,
"Here am I" then stayed his hand to see
God's higher plan, Love's unafflictive love.

The youthful Samuel heard a midnight word
Within the temple, where he thought his friend
Had spoken. When Samuel knew that God had called,
He cried out loud for more, and promised Him
To hear and do with childlike selflessness.

Are we, like them, prepared to answer well
With purer thought, with unselfed love, with joy,
Our Father-Mother's call? When holy work
Is ours to do, can we send back that cry,
Spontaneous and free, '"Here am I"?

Carol Earle Chapin

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