amy-foreman
Amy Foreman lives with her husband and seven children in southern Arizona, where they homestead on their small ranch. Her poetry has been featured in The Society of Classical Poets, and most recently, in the Valentine's Day issue of Epoch Times. She also invites readers to visit her poetry blog, "The Occasional Caesura: A Pause Midline:" https://theoccasionalcaesura.wordpress.com/
“ Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”
Scorned, derided object of the culture’s rumor mill,
Laughed at, mocked, and ridiculed and all because you still
Held to One Who holds to you with scarred and nail-pierced hand.
One Who prophesied this persecution for your stand.
Yes, you knew that, as His servant, such would be the case,
For your Master, long before you, suffered like disgrace,
And the prophets faced the same mistreatment in their day--
When the world shot messengers for what they came to say.
So it’s not surprising it should happen now to you,
That the world would find anathema what you hold true--
And that it would crucify all those who bear His name
Celebrate, rejoice, be glad! When it treats you the same.
Apr 30, 2017
Apr 30, 2017 at 7:22 PM UTC
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Beaten and abused, ill-treated,
Though you never gave them cause,
Pushed around, exploited, cheated,
--Not for breaking any laws--
Only for the path you followed,
Seeking Truth and giving Grace,
Trusting in that Name, so hallowed,
Glory shining in your face.
Righteousness that made them spiteful,
Goodness that brought out their worst,
Now you’ve suffered for what’s rightful,
Like the prophets from the first.
Lift your heads up, all afflicted,
Know there comes another day,
When the Kingdom, as predicted
Comes into your hands to stay.
Apr 30, 2017
Apr 30, 2017 at 7:18 PM UTC
“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”
Breaking down the walls that once divided
Us from them and each of us from God,
Not like those declaring peace, misguided,
When there is no concord, only fraud--
But with Heaven’s righteousness provided,
By the Son, Who spread that peace abroad.
Now no longer Jew or Greek, one-sided,
Locked behind society’s facade,
But those walls of difference subsided,
When with Gospel’s peace your feet were shod.
Others heard your message, I know I did--
And thereafter called you “child of God.”
Apr 30, 2017
Apr 30, 2017 at 7:17 PM UTC
“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God”
Unadulterated, undiluted, clean and clear--
Heart for God and God alone, no other loves come near,
Room for only one consuming passion, real, sincere,
Waiting for His coming, when your Bridegroom shall appear.
All this world’s distractions, the pursuits that once you knew
Pale beside the One who died and rose again for you.
Yes, your heart and mind are single, and your eye is too.
And one day you’ll see Him face to face, the purest View.
Apr 30, 2017
Apr 30, 2017 at 7:15 PM UTC
Sonnet: “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”
That you had been served wrong, there was no doubt,
For all agreed injustice had been done.
You’d suffered that mistreatment one-on-one,
Offenses marring everything throughout
That time, with never sign of turnabout.
Until that day, observed by everyone,
When tables were reversed, positions spun,
When suddenly you had the greater clout.
But when that day arrived, we watched, confused
As you resolved to not retaliate.
Instead you gave forgiveness, mercy too:
A gift from you, absolving the accused.
This kindness shown, your clemency so great,
Invokes now, grace from Heaven, poured on you.
Apr 30, 2017
Apr 30, 2017 at 7:14 PM UTC
“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”
Parched you were and famished for what you could not provide.
All your hardest work still leaving soul unsatisfied.
Craving righteousness to fill the emptiness inside,
Yet your best was filthy rags, could not be purified.
So you came to One Who promised quenching for your thirst,
One Who said He was the Bread of Life, for you dispersed.
There you left the best of you and there you left your worst--
There belief in Jesus Christ your hungering reversed.
Appetite now filled with Righteousness that’s not your own,
You’ve been satiated by your faith in God alone.
Reckoned righteous, perfect, by the One upon the throne:
Satisfied beyond the best this world has ever known.
Apr 30, 2017
Apr 30, 2017 at 7:13 PM UTC
“ Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. “
Though you might have been, like others,
Wildly letting passion loose,
Proud, contending with your brothers,
Status given to abuse,
Yet you chose to tame your spirit,
To ignore your pride of place,
Having might, to always gear it
Gentler, kinder, full of grace.
Strength controlled and power harnessed
Governed by your Father’s will,
Now you gain the earth: your harvest
Spilling out from Heaven’s till.
Apr 30, 2017
Apr 30, 2017 at 7:12 PM UTC
“Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.”
Crying for wrongs that can never be right
or for those who have left you alone,
Counting your trespasses, weeping, contrite,
when the news of the day makes you groan.
Sorrow for evil, lamenting injustice,
bemoaning the state of mankind,
Earnestly troubled, concerned and nonplussed
at the mess we are leaving behind.
You are the fortunate, all you who mourn;
oh, yes, you are the blesséd who grieve.
Though you are stricken, distressed and forlorn,
Yet your Comforter’s here to relieve.
Apr 30, 2017
Apr 30, 2017 at 7:10 PM UTC
“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Because you understood your lack,
Your deficit of soul,
You held aloft your empty sack
To Heaven’s welfare dole.
Though others said, “I have no need,
I’m rich forevermore.”
--(Not knowing that their state, indeed
Was wretched, blind, and poor)--
You looked within your heart, perceived
Your insufficiency,
And Heaven’s Kingdom you received
To end your poverty.
Apr 30, 2017
Apr 30, 2017 at 7:08 PM UTC
“The sum is greater than its parts,” or so the saying goes.
And now the two of us see proof of that as each one grows,
Distinct but similar in code, the perfect mix and match
Of you and me but with a little extra in each batch.
You gave your chromosomes, all twenty-three, and I gave mine:
That nose like yours, those eyes like mine, his humor, her hairline.
The two became one, yes it’s true, that one plus one is one,
But each of us gave more than us to daughter and to son.
For isn’t that your Uncle Bob we hear in boyish joke,
My grandma’s fingers on the keys our daughter can evoke?
A cousin’s art, your father’s songs, Aunt Margaret’s detail--
We see and hear and sense them all; our children tell their tale.
But still there’s more; it’s not heredity alone they bear,
Not just genetic predetermination that they share.
For parts of them go further than we trace from you or me,
Those aspects that can’t find a match in recent history.
Original in talent, passion, attitude, and mien,
Each child is now a prototype the world has never seen,
Once Breath from Heaven animated life within each cell.
Their DNA and heritage were just an earthly shell.
Remember when we held them, small, in wonder and in awe
That mortal hands could hold eternal souls, so new, so raw?
We knew then as we know it now, the honor of our place
Our sum, as parents, greater than our parts, by far, by grace.
Feb 24, 2017
Feb 24, 2017 at 2:29 PM UTC