Jack Pelham

Pardon me for bring up the difference
In a world that would rather pretend
There is none, but I need to know
When you say “love”, what kind you mean.

Wouldn’t it be something
If it were to turn out that after
All these years of modest success,
I should chance to discover in myself
An honest-to-goodness superpower in such
A surprisingly-mundane thing as getting
Sufficient help from my friends!

And wouldn’t it be something
If I could be a great-enough
Blessing to them that they
Should find it worth their
Time to tend to me!

He got a love letter―
Its seven pages consuming him for a week
Until he had it practically memorized,
And had pored over each phrase to be sure
He knew what it must mean.

They think that hearing the preacher
Talk about the Bible is pretty much
The same as knowing it for themselves.

When she said “yes” to his proposal,
She had thought she was also saying “yes”
To all her dreams coming true.

That’s how it had felt.

If it should be my good fortune
To be invited to live there forever,
I hope there’s learning in Heaven.

I hope they don’t just grant me
All understanding in a moment,
But that I’m allowed to keep on learning.

They will admit that there are
Struggles in this world,
But they will not accept
That God himself has wanted
Them to go through them themselves
For their own edification.

Many fools at church will assume
That they will understand the Bible
Readily enough without any need
For cognitive grunting or sweating or stretching.

America could do better
Than the tyranny and corruption―
Than the dysfunction and disunity―
Than the waste and overspending
And the graft and plundering and constant war.

You’ll not find much else
As inspiring as a group of people
All pulling wholeheartedly in the same direction.

They find an energy that
Won’t be found by those
Who work alone.