TO BE REPEATED ALOUD ON A DISCOURAGING DAY

 

 God,

The perfect appraiser,

Passed His creatures

In review,

And called each good -

Including you.

- Carol Lynn Pearson

TRIAL NUMBER FIVE

Carefully they laid

Out on the table

Trials one, two, three,

Four, five and six.

"Choose one", they said.

"Oh, any", she cried, with horror

"Any but number five.

It would kill me.

I promise you I would not survive".

They thanked her graciously,

Escorted her out,

Then gift-wrapped, addressed,

And labeled "Special delivery"

Trial number five -

Sent with love from

Those whose assignment it is

To make sure you know

That you can go

Through trials, one, two,

Three, four, ninety-nine,

Or five -

And, incredibly,

Come out alive.

- Carol Lynn Pearson

MARBLE HALLS

I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls 

With vassals and serfs at my side

And of all who assembled within those walls

That I was the hope and the pride.

I had riches all too great to count

And a high ancestral name.

I dreamt that suitors sought my hand,

That knights upon the bended knee

And with vows no maiden's heart could withstand,

They pledged their faith to me.

And I dreamt that one of that noble host

Came forth my hand to claim.

But I also dreamt which pleased me most

That you loved me still the same,

That you loved me

You loved me still the same.

- Roma Ryan

THE CHARGE OF ANGELS

"Now this is the truth. We humble people; we who feel ourselves sometimes so worthless, so good-for-nothing; we are not so worthless as we think. There is not one of us but what God's love has been expended upon. There is not one of us that He has not cared for and caressed. There is not one of us that He has not desired to save, and that He has not devised means to save. There is not one of us that He has not given His angels charge concerning.We may be insignificant and contemptible in our eyes, and in the eyes of others, but the truth remains that we are the children of God, and that He has actually given His angels - invisible beings of power and might - charge concerning us, and they watch over us and have us in their keeping......"

(Collected Discourses, Vol. 2, George Q. Cannon, November 1890)

HER FATHER'S TEARS

She was always embarrassed
When her father cried
For it was so unmanly
And she always knew
When it would happen.

When he read the note
From Mrs. Lewis
Saying what a joy she was
To have in class
And how proud of her
He must be.

When they brought in
A fifty-candled cake
And sang him a surprise

When the six o'clock news
Showed the kidnapped returned
Or the hostage released
Or the flag at half mast

He would reach for his handkerchief
Folded and white
And dab his left eye
Then his right
And she would just die!

She grew up, of course, and would now
If she could reach across the years
Fill a flask
With the holy water
Of her father's tears.

- Carol Lynn Pearson