Poem January 15, 1979 Issue

"This is a desert place, and the time is now past ..."

Mary H. Gill

"... send the multitude away," they said.
Let them go
and find what they need for themselves
somewhere else,
somewhere other than this unpromising place,
too late in a day when so much has already been done,
and we have nothing more to give.

Oh, had he taken their advice,
how much would have been missed!
For in that barren place,
at a time so late,
what superabundance of blessing was waiting to pour forth
to meet five thousand needs,
and more besides,
filling each one with overflowing good!

God's goodness—unconditional—flows
because good is.
His tender equipollence means
each need already known, already met;
His affluence here and now
for everyone.

How could Love ever fail—in time or place?

Mary H. Gill

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