Listening

by Elouise

Is it any wonder children loved Amy Carmichael?  This past week I’ve sometimes wished for an Amy to make a happy appearance in my life.  Instead, I found this lighthearted yet fully realistic take on life when things aren’t quite the way we’d like them to be.  So now I’m listening for bubbles!

Listening

I sat in a greenwood.
A foaming torrent drummed,
“The Lord is great!”  “And He is good,”
A tiny insect hummed.

A wild bird sang, “And kind,
Oh, we have found Him so.”
And then a soft and pleasant wind
Sang, “Kind,” as he did blow.

The young leaves whispered, “Yes.”
The mosses by the mere
Murmured, “We love His gentleness.”
A fern said, “He is dear.”

A little flower looked up,
A smilet on her face;
Sweet food lay in her open cup,
A butterfly said grace.

* * * * *

The good sun clouded o’er—
Birds, butterflies withdrew;
The wind shook leaves down on the floor;
The sky hid all her blue.

Mist lay upon the hill;
Sharp rain the river smote;
But on its glancing surface still
I saw bright bubbles float.

They caught the fading light
That was so fain to go;
The waterway was as the white
Of moonbeams upon the snow.

And as they shone and broke
In simple gaiety,
I was aware of One who spoke
By bubbles unto me.

Amy Carmichael, Mountain Breezes:  The Collected Poems of Amy Carmichael, p. 16.  © 1999, The Dohnavur Fellowship, published by Christian Literature Crusade.  First published in Made in the Pans (1917), and Pans (prior to 1917)

© Elouise Renich Fraser, 29 December 2014