karoline strickland
A golden world was given me
and I lost it somewhere – I’m not sure where
A golden world was given me
and I spoiled it with anxious hands
A golden world was given me
and I ran too fast to see
A golden world was given me
and I sulked that it was not more
A golden world was given me
and I wept and turned my back
A golden world was given me
and I dared not touch it once
A golden world was given me
and I knelt far off and gazed
A golden world was given me
and I knew it was
not
Mine.
Today I saw bare trees
like cups
opened to the sky.
Stripped.
On knees.
Washing feet stained with dirt and sticky with muck
A mother’s life
A neighbor’s life
A Savior’s life.
If stars leave trails
And fairies leave dust,
Then parents leave gold
In flecks –
Over their children’s hearts.
Unseen –
Till time, the great miner, proves
You left
Gold
or
Poison.
She lay him –
God –
On hay,
While angels
unable to contain their joy
unfurled bright wings and flew,
Blossomed a white and fiery rose
before the drowsing sheep –
In thunderous voice
broke into chorus across
the fields, the prickly grass where shepherds sprawled.
And immortal shadows
grew great against the mountains all around.
They serenade the Son
who whimpers, wondering at the world he made,
and lies among the wide-eyed cows:
Jesus –
Deity –
veiled, veiled
from human eyes,
lest he overwhelm us
with his glory
and we die.
Sometimes receiving the smallest gifts
makes us able
and willing
to believe the reality
of the
Greatest.
You – dear stranger, knelt down on the floor,
Slid on my boots for me and fastened them.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
Watching your young hands, deft in silver rings,
Combing through my hair
While I sit served – a sultaness –
I wonder at the riches of my world.
Made Along The Way 