Preface

Each poem which follows is a
Beloved steppingstone along my life’s path.
Each poem is significant to me, some
Of them recent, others more from my past, but
Each poem cradles my foot, and by its
Presence still listens and responds to the
Cadence in my heart.

Prayer

Your power, my faith. . .
My weakness, Your strength. . .
Please, Lord, help me to
Blind my mind to all those things I
Should not consider, and to
Open my heart to all those
Things I should feel.

Photo by Lisa Elaine
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Psalm 23:2

(“He Leadeth Me beside the Still Waters”)

From what “still waters”
did this face wash the sleep
out of its eyes? What
“Pool of Siloam” was found, *
whence a daylily could
find forgiveness, and in raising
its head up from fresh
dewdrops – know its beauty
was no longer blind?

Leo Carroll
July 10,2025
Westford, Massachusetts

*John 9:7



Photo by Leo Carroll

In the Sheepfold

Isaiah 43:1

(“I Have Called You by Name”)

Oh, ’twas an unforgettable,
gorgeous, autumn day, and the
most important thing
to the petite shepherdess
was that she teach me of each
sheep the uniqueness of
their blessed name…

Leo Carroll
October 28, 2018
Drumlin Farm
Lincoln, Massachusetts

Revised
June 17, 2025



Photo by Leo Carroll

Creature

O Lord, You held me
cupped in Your hands, cradled
in Your arms. You made
me to tenderly lie against
Your bosom. You formed me and
shaped me until I was as
close to Your image and likeness
as a human creature could
become, and then You
looked into my face and
breathed my name, and like a
tiny mustard seed in
the womb You placed me –
into the innocent,
lush garden of an in utero,
warm enclave.*

Leo Carroll
April 25, 2025
Westford, Massachusetts

*Jeremiah 1:5



Photo by Adriane Iordache (via Unsplash.com)

Confessing

I was too tired to pray,
so all I could barely whisper was
to ask Jesus to recite my
prayer for me, the very same
Jesus Who was being
scourged and abused at the pillar,
crowned with vicious thorns,
dragged cruelly through
screaming passageways to
Calvary, and then nailed
with filthy Roman spikes to a
Cross, and in the last
throes of His agony crying out,
“My God, my God, why
did You abandon me?”
*
Yes, that is the same Jesus
Whom I implored to recite the
words for me…because I
was too tired to stay awake and in
self-centered pity to pray.

Leo Carroll
April 24, 2025
Westford, Massachusetts

*Mark 15:34



Photo by Nick Price (via Unsplash.com)

One God in Three Persons

Let my prayer come into
Your presence, O Almighty Father, and
allow it to be welcome as it
alights Your footstool.
Please gaze favorably as
Your Only Begotten Son mercifully
unfurls it, and as Your Holy
Spirit breathes aloud the poor
verse of the scroll.

Leo Carroll
April 2, 2025
Westford, Massachusetts



Photo by Jane Vivian