Poem September 5, 2005 Issue

REMOVING THE FEAR

Sally Lessiter

They said that a nightmare of fear might come upon us.
In darkness there would be danger with unseen terrors;
With no knowing way of escape, and as though time itself had terminated.

Stone-sealed in a den of lions,
A hostile environment to consume him,
Against all mortal odds,
In minutes stretching through hours of night,
Alone, awake,
Daniel heard his day of freedom dawn.

O Daniel, servant of the living God,
is thy God, whom thou servest continually,
able to deliver thee from the lions?
Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for ever.
My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths,
that they have not hurt me:
forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me;
and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.