




Lion and Lamb
By Cora E. Cypser
ISBN: 0-9625774-4-8
Published by KIM
PATHWAYS, 1992
Seek and You Shall Find
Lord, be with these
hands
that they may write
only what is so.
Be with this mind
that it may think the truth
and reason out the truth.
Guide me in wisdom
for with all my heart
I seek to find you.
1
Isaiah 25:6
On this
knoll rising
out of the infinite
the Lord has set a feast
for all peoples
a succulent word of life
of meaty thoughts
a banquet ushering in
the reign of love
for all.
We here can see
the shining of each other.
The plague of death
is gone forever
banished by that which hosts
the banquet table!
2
Psalm 39:12
Yahweh, I am your
guest
in your house, earth
and I partake of all the
bounty
at your table.
All good things
you dispense with lavish hand.
But what of those
the beggars at your door?
Please let them in
that they may share with me
and know you
for the generous host you are.
Must I play host for you
and leave my favored place
to draw them in?
Why, I am but a puff of wind
a thimbleful of spirit.
How can I act for you
whose deeds declare forever?
Beyond Flesh
When they ate the produce of the land
there was no more manna.
God feeds us
until we can feed ourselves.
God supports our bodies
until our spirits can live
without bodies.
3
Roadway for The Ruler
Make way in the
desert
a highway for our God!
There are winds of change
blowing
the sands drifting, stinging
suffocating.
It is frightening
but the ruler is coming.
We must clear the sands
and lay stones for a highway.
Gather your white robes tight
over your faces
friends, sisters, brothers.
Pass the round worn rocks
from hand to hand.
Lay them.
Come!
Make the highway!
4
From Competitive to Cooperative
It’s time to take
a jump for
young mankind
a new direction, a new
focusing.
Look how he runs,—
competitive!
The race is to the swift.
The laurels, to the wise.
The gold is to the brave.
Are you a winner
or does anyone win
in all these races?
The winner is the loser—
jealous associates know him as
fallible.
His run is criticized, his
gait, his wind.
The others are too close
behind.
It’s only chance that sends
him
splitting tape, across the
line.
Let’s cut these races and
cooperate!
5
To Bless or Blunder?
Why did
God make
us?
To fail and blunder?
Through the hot summer
to lose our sense of wonder?
Where is the cool breeze?
The long iced draught under the
trees?
Did God make us
that we might know sin and
disease?
Where is the bond of brotherhood?
Always coming soon?
What good is it to live?
To live for what?
To touch the moon?
What good is that?
What good to fail and blunder?
Through the hot days
we lose
our sense of wonder.
God says
“I made you all to laugh
So laugh and bless!
It was a difficult task
to make a laughing life
and tie it in
with such a dangerous
and
majestic world.”
6
Whistling in The Dark
It is
dark
and it is scary.
This whole world
is kind of hairy.
So I praise
the God who made it
ask, I not be
afraid of it.
So I whistle
in the dark
like a silly
light-struck lark
waked at
by the moon.
I hope I whistle
the right tune.
On Lions and Lambs
The
place
where the lion lies down with the
lamb
is the place
where the oppressed and the
oppressors
can enter
into concerned and respectful
communication
with each other.
It is a secure spot where each
agrees to listen
and where each
is
guaranteed a hearing.
7
The Purpose of Gods
We make gods out of
need.
You can explain so much with gods
who won’t explain their ways to
men
but merely show their power.
You can explain the earth
made by some crazy god
who threw his weight around.
It helps to keep our sort in
line.
We placate gods so they won’t go
berserk.
Who needs bolt-throwing gods?
Give us some gentle folk
who’ll teach us how to love
how to control ourselves
so that there won’t be cast-off
lepers
rapists, and nuclear disasters.
8
Someone’s Creatures
The wise men and the
scientists
grew great in their conceit.
They said, “We’ll cure disease.
We’ll conquer space.
We’ll grow vast quantities of
food
so none can starve. We’ll check
our offspring
so that every child will be a
wanted child.
This world will be a wonder world
with all the universe to grow
in.”
They said, “We have no need of
God.
We can create our heaven without
a God.”
With these words they killed God
in their hearts.
Just to be sure they had no need
of God
they briefly looked for God
and since they could not find God
in their hearts
concluded, “God is dead.”
Then they proceeded to the
business at hand.
They knew so much and were so
very wise
the lesser people of the world
looked on in wonder.
They learned to cure some cancers
but a strange thing happened.
A young girl they had agreed no
one could cure
was cured by love.
They learned to fight disease
but another strange thing
happened—
as soon as they would cure one
virus
another group of wise men
would invent another virus twice
as bad
and set it on a shelf to save for
some day
when their hate was strong enough
to use it.
Still they insisted, “We do love.
We wish that all the people
were as wise and fortunate as
we.”
They proved their kind philosophy
by going out into the world
performing great conversions with
their science.
They made elaborate weapons
and forced these in the hands of
lesser men
and said, “You fight for truth
and freedom.
Shoot to kill.
Who disagrees with us is better
dead.”
Perhaps they were right.
Where is this better world
our heaven-reign home?
Godless we roam
through a scorched, burning world
love, all unknown.
Churches are burning.
Schools have been blown.
Birds have stopped singing.
Scientists, men of wisdom
take away your world built on
men’s pride.
What have you left us but the
passions of men?
We need God. We need love.
We need the gentle deed
the self-effacing hand.
We thought we were giants.
We thought that we could make the
world perfect.
For this presumption forgive us.
Forgive us, Lord. We thought
that since we touched the moon
that we were gods.
We forgot that we were only
Someone’s creatures.
9
Asylum?
Yes, perhaps some
people
find asylum here.
Some cannot find
asylum from their tortured minds
in all the earth.
For them
there is no resting place
no cure
no healer.
When death and hell
pour forth
at time’s own end
then, too
will these receive release.
I beg you, God
my God who made
these stumbling feet
these flashing eyes
surely, you’ve made the love
to help and heal them.
The Womb of God
God’s womb is
the
universe
and what does God produce
in this vast cavity?
God produces God!
The earth provides the setting
from which the spirit in humanity
gives birth to love.
10
To Anyone In Authority
You,
there
you in the chair
cut the matter clean.
Strip it bare.
Make it square
if you care.
Only you
can do.
Bow to you
because you have this power
for such a little hour?
I should bow?
Why and how?
You are human
like me
and fallible.
You will see.
Tell them all
before they fall
on bended knee
that you are only man.
Then if you can
stir the matter
thoroughly
thoughtfully
vigorously
so only truth
rises in ferment
above the sediment.
11

Controlling Lions
Peace
is not
necessarily calm.
It is not a swan resting on blue
waters.
Peace is a riot of color and
movement
held in place by concerned love.
Sixteen geese at twilight
swooping
cavorting in concert across the
full moon,—
who is richer than I with such an
expression
of God’s creativity? Suddenly I
know