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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Ode to Jesus

So much of You
is mystery,
so much of You is
Bethlehem stable and
Calvary Cross.

So much of You
is shadow,
so much of You is
Light o’ercoming doubt
of Thomas.

Leo Carroll
October 26, 2024
Near Manzanita, Oregon



Photo by Leo Carroll

Light

Awe

Lord, there is no
darkness too dark for Your Light.
There is no noise too loud
for Your Silence. There
is only You, and before You
I stand mute.

The Truth

The Light came out of
the darkness, and still comes out.
The darkness could not
restrain the Light, and still cannot.
The Light shone and still
shines, while the darkness
cowers, by the Light made blind.

Light and Hope

Where there is darkness,
there has to be Light, to see it…
Where there is despair,
there has to be Hope, to free it…

Leo Carroll
October 25, 2024
Indian Beach, Oregon



Photo by Leo Carroll

Matthew 17: 1-5

"As They Looked on, a Change Came over Him"

Which
one Heaven,
which one Earth,
each’s seeming the
mirror reflection of the other,
each’s image and likeness
and raiment
transfigured as on
Mount Tabor – strikingly
white, blinding the
eyes of those who from the
waters and clouds
the voice of God
heard…

Leo Carroll
October 25, 2024
Indian Beach, Oregon



Photo by Leo Carroll

Cedars

(Matthew 19, John 2)

So this is my Shepherd’s gate,
the entrance to which certainly is not
what I had anticipated — the eyelet of a
needle for a camel to impossibly
navigate! But rather have emerged
the soft colors of gold and green, caught
in the autumn light of an
end-of-afternoon, cedar dream.
And a tear washes my cheek,
overcome by the unmerited, sweet
mercy which grace in beauty has
bathed me! Thus I realize at this very
late hour, was revealed the
delicate veil which gives access to
Cana’s wedding feast and
shaded bower…

Leo Carroll
October 9, 2024
Sammamish, Washington



Photo by Leo Carroll

Song of Solomon 2:1

“I Am the Rose of Sharon, and the Lily of the Valleys”

“I have not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance,” *

and thus defines the essential
appeal of Jesus, His compassion and
His mercy, and why so many in
the crowds would press around Him,
clutching at His garments,
as if His words were falling
upon good soil in the heretofore
barren desert of their ears,
and multiplying in each their hearts
a Rose of Sharon – beautiful
in hope, and in purity oblivious to
mortal anxieties and fears.

Leo Carroll
August 12, 2024
Westford, Massachusetts

*Luke 5:32



Photo by Leo Carroll