A JEWEL AWAKENS

What will the next blow
bring to me....
which facet of life
now turns
to the shaping tool
in the Master's hand
(If one doesn't crack, one learns...)

You'd have thought me of
no use at all
long ago
when i was chosen
one day in the field
Then held to the light
examined and turned
Was there value
that this stone could yield?

The Master
must have thought
"Yes"
for He carried me home
and decided
what my shape should be

Then a piece at a time
began chipping away
at the flaws
which were all over me

At first confused
by the blows and the grinding
i felt sorely used
and complained
i could tell life had changed
from the days in the field
but as yet
couldn't guess what i'd gained    

With the passage of time
i began to detect
the work had a rhythm and flow
What i'd thought of as pain
was a different plane
of existence i didn't know

Then
bit by bit
i too could see
that i was becoming
a Jewel
How glad i was
that i'd not escaped
those first abrasions
of God's sharp Shaping Tool

When will all the work be done?
i've got no way of knowing
But now and then
in the heat of the grinding
i almost think that i'm glowing

Just a bit perhaps
a shine, a spark
a twinkle here or there
But Hope
is what i have the most of
for i'm
in the Master's care          

No longer lingering
in the field
trampled in all the mire
On the Master's bench
i await His grind
and polish
to release the fire
that is bound within the Opal's vein
That sparks the Amethyst’s gleam
That shimmers in the star
of the Sapphire's soul
That sparks the Ruby's beam.....

What kind of a Jewel will i be, You say?
Who cares
'Tis more than enough for me
To be shaped by the tool
in the Master's hand
To know He has Chosen me

Curtis Delk Hicks (last name changed in 1991 to "Rose")
1984/85
(i think this is my favorite Poem
written by my very own self!)