<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=530723" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Songs of Praise and Worship</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">As a child, I would stand<br>With the other children.<br>We would sing songs of praise<br>And worship—God's kingdom.<br>The words pulled at our young, <br>Temporal, pure spirits—<br>Innocent spheres of soul<br>That had yet to mature.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">We would bow our small heads, <br>Close our hands and say prayers.<br>The preacher would instruct<br>And show us what to say.<br>We didn't understand<br>Biblical passages and<br>We didn't comprehend<br>What all God's stories meant, </div><div style="margin:10px 0">Or at least I couldn't—<br>Though I tried and longed to.<br>The other children would<br>Close their eyes, outstretching<br>The soft palms of their hands<br>And feel God's presence in<br>Their stubby fingertips<br>As if they could reach Him.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">They would cry. Their bodies<br>Would rock and move like some<br>Divine rhythm could quake<br>The floor where we all stood.<br>They would smile, enraptured<br>And captured by the songs—<br>Dancing with the angels.<br>Three minutes with God's wings.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Holiness percolated<br>Inside them. Not in me.<br>They simmered in God's warmth<br>While I was unheated.<br>The fires that burned in them<br>Refused to spark in me.<br>My spirit was tepid—<br>Still against the hot pan.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">When the songs had finished, <br>They would tremble and shake, <br>The ground lifting beneath<br>Them, if just for one song.<br>When they closed their clear eyes, <br>They could see their heaven.<br>When I did the same thing, <br>I saw my dark eyelids.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Tim+Stensloff">Tim Stensloff</a><div class=q> <img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share"> <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=530723" data-title="Songs of Praise and Worship de Tim Stensloff" data-description="As a child, I would stand With the other children. We would sing songs of praise And worship—God's kingdom. The words pulled at our young, Temporal, pure spirits— Innocent spheres of soul That had yet to mature. We would bow our small heads,..."></div> </div> </div>

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