Find Refuge: Reflections on Psalm 73

by Lydia Allums

Simplicity wants to liken nearness
to a warm blanket - tuck around shoulders -
when the frost webs across the cold thin glass,
or a mug of tea - lift to relaxed lips -
on a still morning before crunching snow
renders scraping lacy frost from windshields
even more biting and disheartening.

How large the gulf between the desire
and the fulfillment - bundle up for health -
before the Likeness declared the resolve
to forsake its import, - hurry to class -
becoming the dearly-bought charity
by which simple souls declare, if faintly:
"But for me, it is good to be near God."

© Lydia Allums, 2008