Poem February 4, 1980 Issue

Lesson on selflessness

(from a burning bush)

SUSAN M. SCHMELTZ

I thought sadly
I could not see
a burning bush today,
flaming with fire not its own
(light divine!)
a silent testimony to the fact
of indestructible spiritual identity.

Then I thought gladly
I could strive to be
a burning bush each day—
with no need of looking right or left
to see who watched or not
(neither a shouting slogan
nor a self-conscious come-on),

but I could be
a simple servant
obedient to God's good will,
demonstrating that man is not consumed
by the flash of false belief,
but glows forever with a light
not his own, but God's.

SUSAN M. SCHMELTZ

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