Christian Poetry

Solace

2011-03-18T09:43:00.000-07:00

If this should be the last time

I could pick an Easter bloom,

Or walk in mossy wayside lanes,

At least I shall enjoy this day,

And when light and sunshine wanes,

I'll place the Easter lily

In a Window of my room.

There's always a last time, my dear,

When one can pick an Easter bloom,

A last time to walk in fields and lane;

But if one can see the beauty

In a walk through moss-grown bowers,

There'd be peace and sweet contentment

In the last day in one's room.

By; MEV

My Good-bye

2010-09-23T12:22:00.001-07:00

This much to you I’ll say- the darlings of my heart-

That though I’ll be away, we’ll not be far apart;

For though I’ll leave you for a time, or if I stay,

Mother love like mine can never go away.

Believe my love is standing by your side,

Whether good or ill may in your life abide.

Believe I’m near, and think the best you may,

For darling girls, my love can never go away.

Mother (MEV), June 2, 1935

Written to daughters Wilma and Ardice, left behind in Michigan when she went to California with her husband and three other daughters; Alta, Avis, and Clova, and granddaughter Mary Helen (my Mother), Avis’ daughter

From My Hospital Window

2010-08-08T15:31:00.000-07:00

I can see a blue patch of sky
And the tops of green trees
The gray roof of a house
With a nest under the eaves.

I can see a green vine
Trailing the window screen,
A worm crawling upon it
Which turns from brown to green.

Across, in the distance,
I see a chimney red,
Today, ‘twas an airplane,
I saw from my bed.

At night, there are the stars
O’er head, shining bright,
And a young golden moon
To give us light.

These are the sights that I see,
But the sounds give me fright,
‘Tis of life, coming and going,
All through the long night.

M.E.V. 1929

At Dusk

2010-06-04T11:58:00.000-07:00

Blue dusk has come,
Creeping o’er the hills in a hint of night.
My lips are dumb
To express my fear of fading light

Yet, all is well,
And a tranquil longing comes with the dark
I’ve yet to tell
Of the things I feel, the sights I see, but hark!

I hear sweet bells,
Tinkling softly to cheer me along the dark way,
And their music quells
All my fears; I know I’ll safely arrive at the dawn of day.

M.E.V.

The Song

2010-04-05T11:45:00.000-07:00

The song that I sing
Was a song that I knew,
I sang it again
And I thought then of you.

Of the sweet love we had
On that night long ago,
And I saw your dear face
In the song’s after-glow.

Then I heard again
And the chorus was true,
For the love I had then
Now came back anew.

It is sweeter by far
Than the song that we knew,
For I found you again
And the song has come true

Maud Bowers Van Order
Alta Eileen Oliver (Daughter)
May 12, 1946

The Promise of Dawn

2010-02-09T13:16:00.000-08:00

The dawn was breaking in the east,
The world was coming back to life,
To pain and sorrow, rest and strife;
The noise of night things all had ceased.

The dawn, all rosy, full of joy,
From over the hills and far away,
Was coming with its gift of warmth;
Our souls sang out a tender lay.

Were it not for the promise of dawn,
We might stay chilled from the night,
But we know its blessed coming
Its promise of life and light.

MEV

Star of the Dawn

2009-12-21T10:37:00.000-08:00

Early dawn came, joyous and white,
Her small feet dancing, feathery-light.
With pencils and brushes and oils colored bright,
She etched this way and that through the oncoming light,
A faint shadow here, a blue shading there,
Gay dawn with jewels all over her hair.
She painted an aura one place in the sky,
Where a star shone brightly to guide passers-by,
She lingered happily in a good mood,
Dreading to leave the star she had wooed,
And on such a sweet, indescribable morn,
While the star still shone on, our Savior was born.

M.E.V.
1934

Christmas Gift

2009-12-14T09:34:00.001-08:00

Before the glory of the stable
Shone the Bethlehem star.
Angels saw the sight and whispered,
Wise men, too, saw from afar.

They beheld the wonder Baby
In the manager of hay.
Prophets came and left sweet incense,
His Mother Mary knelt to pray.

God’s greatest gift to us was Jesus,
The sweetest gift of all.
How can we thank Him half enough
For gift divine in an oxen’s stall?

If at Christmas-tide we’re reverent,
We’ll hear the angel’s chorus then,
Come from heaven in sweetest anthem:
“Pease on earth, good will toward men”

MEV 1929

A Wish

2009-11-29T14:28:00.000-08:00

I wish that I had been a bird,
A snow-bird would be best of all,
Then I would sit up in a tree
And stay right through from spring ‘till fall.

I’d sit up in the branches high
And hear the wind a-wailing by.
And feel the snow-flakes downward fall,
And oh, I know I’d love it all.

I’d see the sun a-shining bright
O’er meadows, making mellow light.
At night, when moonbeams crystal shone,
I’d hide away ‘till dark had flown.

I’d see the trees and fields snow-bound
And watch the ice king track around.
Then, when the spring’s warm breeze would blow,
I’d stay to see old winter go.

By:
MEV

Autumn's Rainbow

2009-11-02T11:47:00.000-08:00

Like a rainbow circling overhead,
Are leaves of the maple, gold and red,
And yellow and violet, golden and brown
A shower of leaves is falling down.

Fluttering sadly in their last flight,
The autumn leaves make a pretty sight.
Covering the earth with a golden glow,
They make for the earth a bright rainbow.

MEV
1929

Autumn Days

2009-10-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

O blissful autumn days,
Please linger here awhile
We love thy winsome ways
Our minds thou dost beguile.

Thy days are filled with peace;
Thy nights, with incense sweet,
Are far too short for us,
Thy moments all too fleet.

The splendor of thy hours
From fleeting night ‘till dawn
Proclaim thy sudden death;
Thou’rt swifter than a fawn.

I’d love to grasp thee tight
And never let thee go—
For winter with its cold
And ice and frost and snow.

M.E. Van Order
1926

A Cleansing

2009-10-12T12:12:00.000-07:00

Like line, snow white,
Drying in the breeze;
Sun-bleached, immaculate,
Requiring nothing more
But folding and giving to each
Satin fold a crease,
Then laid away in lavender
Ready to adorn, to satisfy and please.

So must my mind and soul
Become snow-white,
Drained of darkness,
Filtered through with Love,
Each corner filled with charity and peace,
Ready and immaculate
To soar above and live with angels
In everlasting light.

Maud E. Van Order

Yesterday

2009-10-05T11:03:00.000-07:00

The time is at hand
When I can’t see today
For the days that have gone;
For those sweet yesterdays
Of unrealized joy,
When I was a girl
And when you were my boy

Yes the time is at hand
When today seems a myth,
And the days that are gone
Are my memories gold.
What care I for today,
For I live for the joy
That I once was your girl,
When you were my boy.

Song Lyric
M.E.V.
1935

My Prayer

2009-09-28T14:01:00.000-07:00

I hope to ever keep the white light burning in my soul,

And ever keep my ideals clean and whole.

I hope to shun the dark and dreary ways,

Keeping my eyes toward the light always,

I hope to leave a ray of light when the day is done,

To help my children dear to follow on.

Maud E. Van Order
(my Great-Grandmother)
July 10 1946

Earthly Treasures

2009-09-22T10:59:00.000-07:00

A bough of apple blossoms
Rain washed ‘neath blue sky
A yellow tulip leaning
Against a wall nearby
A bluebird perched upon a bush
Trilling a gladsome lay,
A spray of goldenrod a-smiling
And nodding across the way
A sparkling April shower
A rainbow lighting the sky
A row of purple lilacs etched
Against the twilight
Of a sweet spring night,
And over all canopy
Of heaven’s starry light
A group of little children romping
Beneath a gnarled old apple tree,
These are few of earth’s bright treasures
To make life sweet for you and me

By Maud Elinor Van Order

Doubt

2008-02-20T09:08:00.001-08:00

Doubt

Doubt

When black stark grief,
Sudden and without warning,
Strikes at our lives,
Lays waste to our finer emotions,
Seeks to dull or minds
And stop our hearts from beating,
That’s when we doubt.

But why doubt, when God is still above us,
Ready to shelter us, and with His love protect us,
From the viler things of life.
That would molest us,
Even from the grief that is,
Almost our undoing,
Why should we doubt!

MEV (my Great Grandmother)

Why Lord

2007-06-11T13:59:00.000-07:00

WHY LORD?

Why Lord do I always try and please?

Why Lord do I never learn?

Why Lord do I set myself up for hurt?

Why Lord has every kind act been thrown back by others around me?

Why Lord will others I have reached out to in your love run the other way?

Why Lord does no one even bother to really look at who I really am?

Why Lord can do no right?

Why Lord even in my sleep I can do no right?

WHY LORD?

The Recognition of Truth

2007-05-31T20:36:00.000-07:00

RECOGNITION OF THE TRUTH

Keep an eye on the stars,

Keep your feet on the road,

Do not stumble and fall

While lifting your load.

Keep an eye on the stars-

If this is your goal,

You must keep watching

The world as a whole.

Stars shine brightly in heavens above,

When one is romantic, sometimes in love,

Yet grass is so green

And the roadway is sure,

So keep your feet on the path

Though the stars seem to lure.

You say: “But God made the stars”.

He made the earth too,

Keep watching His roadway

If you walk true.

MEV 1951