Now vs. Later

I’ve enjoyed seeing mountains stacked

Blue-gray ridge upon gray blue,

And I’ve enjoyed oak river canyons

As I’ve meandered them through.

I’ve enjoyed seeing sequoias

Standing in their regal height,

And enjoyed Atlantic’s splashings

Morning and noon and at night.

I’ve enjoyed the hues of Autumn

Brushed on big tree or short shrub,

And enjoyed the sight of blossoms:

Fringed petals and spiked heart-hub

I’ve enjoyed the wild of deserts

With clumped grasses scattered through.

And I’ve enjoyed lakes a blue-green

And smaller ponds, greenish-blue.

2

If an earth I know is tainted,

Tarnished in spots by the fall,

A place that’s one big graveyard past,

Present, future for us all.

Can still hold islands attractive

Some common and others rare

Can most pleasantly surprise us

Round the next bend, over there

Can presently please the sight sense

On the ground, in air, afloat

Can thrill with size, shape, and texture,

Terrain both close and remote.

Can gladden the eye by colors

(Colors have wonderful “call.”)

And gladden the mind rememb’ring

Winter, spring, summer, and fall.

3

Surely the next world for the saint

Is glorious beyond sense.

Beauty behind heaven’s tall wall,

Now hidden by our time-fence.

The Beauty which I try to write

Is the least attraction there.

For Christ, the Spirit, and Father

– Trinity beyond compare –

Will permeate the atmosphere,

Glowing, radiate the place,

So brightened no sun is needed

But Their Holy Handsome Face.

Lord, help my unworthiness, bound

By flesh – bound in a bone “fence”

To enjoy earth but O, up there

“Enjoy God” in e-v-e-r-y sense.

– eab, 2/17/15