April Thoughts

Listen to the laughter of the brook that's racin’ by!

Listen to the chatter of the black-birds on the fence!

Stand an’ see the beauties of the blue that's in the sky —

Then ask of God why mortals have n't any better sense

Than to quarrel an’ to battle

Where the guns an’ cannon rattle

An’ to slaughter one another an’ to fill the world with hate.

God brings the buds to blossom

Where the gentle breezes toss‘ em

An’ the soul is blind to beauty that takes anger for its mate.

Listen to the singin’ of the robins in the trees!

See the sunbeams flashin’ where they're mirrored by the stream!

Hear the drowsy buzzin’ of the honey-seekin’ bees,

Then draw a little closer to your God the while you dream.

When the world is dressed to cheer you

Do n't you feel Him standin’ near you?

When your soul drinks in the beauty of the wonders in His plan,

An’ you've put away your passions,

Do n't you think the works He fashions

In their beauty an’ their bigness mock the littleness of man?

Oh, I never walk an orchard nor a field with daisies strewn,

An’ I never stand bare-headed gazin’ everywhere about

At the living joys around me, be it morning, night or noon,

But I ask God to forgive me that I ever held a doubt.

Surely men must walk in blindness,

With the whole world tuned to kindness,

An’ all dumb an’ feathered creatures fairly bubblin’ o'er with glee

To devote themselves to madness

That can only end in sadness

An’ to think that they are being what God put them here to be.