Poem January 18, 1958 Issue

EUTYCHUS

Acts 20:7-12

Carol Earle Chapin

What a privilege was his
in that crowded upper room so long ago,
where many lamps proclaimed a burst of light
upon an ancient world's near–darkened thought!
From his window perch, he listened
while one of the gifted speakers of all time
warmed to the eternal theme of Life and Love and Truth,
presented by Christ Jesus, our Exemplar.
What did waning night, discomfort, fatigue, or closeness weigh
in presence of such precious mental riches?

Yet the young man nodded, slept, and fell.
But since Truth's atmosphere embraced him still, his healing came
through Paul's inspired conviction that man lives in Life.

Again, today, many lights–the spiritual facts of being—
blaze in a burdened world:
and we can stay awake to watch them shine,
to cherish their enlightenment,
to share the full effulgence of God's pure ideas
with one and all; to find, as Eutychus finally did,
that man in God's own image
can never be mesmerized by stupor, fear, or death,
but must, like a well–attended lamp,
show forth Life's steady, incandescent glow.

Carol Earle Chapin

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