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Vera Kilgore Heilig: Her Poetry Lives (2017) H. Morris Williams, Marie Law Haire







            God gave me this small thing I could do.



            Pondering my gifts unto the least of these,

            I smugly felt that I was sure to please
            Till I remembered that there is another side.

            No rooster crowed today when I denied
            My Master, but I knew I had betrayed

            Him basely. I remembered that I made
            A sharp retort that stirred another’s wrath.

            A softer answer might have cleared the path

            To understanding, but I lost a friend
            Because I could not find the grace to bend.

            My voice, the same that sang a hymn of praise
            Spoke words that I’ll regret for many days.

            And then I must confess — it can’t be hid —

            One outward-seeming generous deed I did
            Was done with grudging heart. I cannot claim

            This as a cup of water given in His name.
            When meal time came and I had bowed my head

            And thanked the Father for my daily bread,

            Did I remember there are those who need
            Bread upon which their hungry souls may feed

            As well as other bread? And did I give
            Instinctively of both that these might live?



            No, Lord, I did not hear a rooster crow,

            But when your Spirit speaks to me I know

            I fall far short of what I ought to be.
            I am a sinner, Lord, be merciful to me.













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