Heaven's Branches
My childhood elm of outgrowth stout
Nourished His formative buds about
While holding me during youthful sprout
Yet far I fell from Him.
For thoughtless Time forgives forgot
He waited for his puerile tot
My seasons passed far from his plot
And further I fell from Him.
Upon my adolescent spark
He let me stab his bleeding bark
With foolish whim, a lover’s mark
Still further I fell from Him.
While seasons passed with nature’s grace
And changed the lines upon my face
He kept my sacred vernal place
Still further I fell from Him.
Soon I was met with fortune’s snide
And chilling winter did preside
His thickened limbs He did provide
Still further I fell from Him.
When life bestowed my last defeat
For years of folly and conceit
My eyes beheld His sad retreat
How far I fell from Him!
That tree that held my girlish jump
And greenery once rich and plump
Was now a sickly blackened stump
How far I fell from Him!
I wept upon His tattered rings
For all the comfort He did bring
Throughout my vain and endless sting
I'd not ascend to Him!
Somehow He felt my tears abreast
And cleansed the faults I had possessed
He offered me His stump for rest
I did ascend to Him.
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