I
The blinding July sun at ten o’clock
Glares on the white walls of the little church,-
The shingles silver-gray, the shutters green,
Sunflowers man-high in bloom against the wall,-
And glares on dingy wagons trailed by dust,
Slow jolting to the platform at the door.
Women alight and enter, while the men
Tie sweating teams to the much gnawed hitching posts.
How drowsily the horses stamp at flies!
The landscape wavers in the shimmering heat.
Come in from the strong sunlight. The pine pews
Are filled with settlers. Men with grizzled beards,
And faces weathered rough by sun and wind –
Wind that would wear down granite-listless stand,
Awkwardly easing muscles now relaxed
Longer than is their use. The women move
Graceful and gracious, whether pale or tanned,
Thin, nervous, or in rosy health. Their eyes
Are bright, and bearing cheerful. Least at ease
Are growing girls and boys. Welcomes go round,
And gossips buzz until the organ wails
The slow, sad measures of the opening hymn.
II
Beside the open window, dreamily,
A sunflower pokes its stiff and oily head
Droned over by a hairy bumblebee.
An awkward boy sits gazing; does not hear
Or text or sermon; only sees the flower
Nod in the breeze, and finds the pew grow hard,
While muscles twitch and ache for liberty.
A little church; the settlers come for miles.
Some few, unhearing, sit in selfish dreams;
For life is vilely mingled, sweetly mixed,
Scanty or bounteous in vital force;
But here the most are really worshippers
Seeking in fellowship a sympathy
With God. Their simple faces plainly show
What feelings stir the heart, for hard looks melt,
And thin, worn wretchedness in garb grotesque
Is eased of uglinesses while it feeds
On love and hope. This meager hour may lift
Some grovelling face to see the blessed sky;
Master a soul, and yield it back to life
Tempered against the evil days to be.
A little thing, this church? Remove its roots,
Ossa on Pelion would not fill the pit.
(Edwin Ford Piper)
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Based on Topics: Love Poems, Man Poems, God Poems, Life Poems, Sadness Poems, Soul Poems, Joy & Excitement Poems, Dreams Poems, Christianity Poems, Flowers Poems, Hope PoemsBased on Keywords: bumblebee, jolting, settlers, grovelling, droned, awkwardly, gossips, vilely, pokes, pelion, ossa