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 midnight

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