1st quarter poem
There is no Frigate like a Book
by Emily Dickinson
There is no Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away,
Nor any Coursers like a Page
Of prancing Poetry –
This Traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of Toll –
How frugal is the Chariot
That bears a Human soul.
2nd quarter poem
Name_____________
The Gospel Tree
There once was a shining Christmas tree
Standing out where all could see.
Its brilliance captured every eye
And seemed to cheer each passer-by.
“The lights are so bright” they would say
And hesitate to walk away.
The tree stood proud ablaze with light.
For every light was burning bright.
Then one bulb was heard to say
“I am tired of burning night and day
I think I will just go out and rest
For I am too tired to do my best
Besides I am so very small
I doubt if I will be missed at all.”
Then a child lovingly touched the light.
“Look mother this one shines so bright.
I think of all the lights upon the tree
This one looks the best to me.”
“Oh my goodness” said the light
“I almost dimmed right out of sight.
I thought no one would care
If I failed to shine my share.”
With that a glorious brilliance came
For every light had felt the same.
Our Gospel like this tree
With little lights which are you and me
We have a space we must fill
With love, lessons and good will.
Let’s keep our tree ablaze with light
With testimonies burning bright.
For our Gospel is a living tree
That lights our way to eternity.
-unknown
3rd quarter poem
The Road Not Taken
TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost
4th quarter poem
A Child's Thought of God
They say that God lives very high;
But if you look above the pines
You cannot see our God; and why?
And if you dig down in the mines,
You never see Him in the gold,
Though from Him all that's glory shines.
God is so good, He wears a fold
Of heaven and earth across His face,
Like secrets kept, for love, untold.
But still I feel that His embrace
Slides down by thrills, through all things made,
Through sight and sound of every place;
As if my tender mother laid
On my shut lids her kisses' pressure,
Half waking me at night, and said,
"Who kissed you through the dark, dear guesser?"
-Elizabeth Barrett Browning