Poem April 27, 1968 Issue

THE FOLLOWERS

Margaret Hovenden Ogden

There have been others who have gone before,
Led on by Love, by Life, by Mind, by Truth,
Who beheld the star that stood above the manger,
The church built on the rock, the servant's ear,
The palms, pierced by the nails, held out to bless;
The benediction of the resurrection;
Bethlehem, Gethsemane, and Olivet.

There have been others who have passed this way,
Led on by Love,
Through the sun-flecked valley roads that lead through childhood,
Walking small beneath the tall;
Holding hard to the proffered hand
In the marvelous maze. They have known the gentle tone
That bends to tender reassurance, the light,
Held parent-high, eradicating fright.

There have been others who have climbed this ladder,
Led on by Life,
And reached the level of the eyes where the size
Of the world of the child diminishes
From enormity to relativity.