Published in Time of Singing, Volume 41, Number 1, Spring 2014
Editor Lora H. Zill

God Remembers Noah-And Me
Genesis 9:13 NIV

As present as sunlight
in the midst of rain,
as promising as a green olive leaf
in the beak of a dove,
a prism casts a rainbow image
onto the pages of Sunday's lesson
spread like bread
          on the kitchen table.

Published in Time of Singing, Volume 41, Number 1, Spring 2014
Editor Lora H. Zill

For God's Eyes Alone
Roger Morigi was a master stone carver, Washington National Cathedral, 1956-1978

Scaling a scaffold
let down like a Jacob
ladder leaning against
heaven's gate,
an artisan calls out to Morigi
who had spent days
chiseling leaves
in an all but hidden part
of a sacred tableau
as spirited as children
playing hide and seek:

Why is it taking you so long?
The leaves are beautiful.
But who will ever see them?
 

                                                           TIME OF SINGING
                                                      A Magazine of Christian Poetry
                                                                    Spring 2013
                                                                Editor: Lora H. Zill

       
                         APRIL AWARENESS
               
                         April had set in
                         without a nod from me.
                         I had been too busy to notice
                         ranks of pink and green
                         springing up outside my door
                         saluting the rise of sap.
                       
                         Then one unspectacular day
                         the brassy Captain
                         of the seasons lingered
                         just beyond my lawn and made
                         glowing gestures of command.

                         In that yellow-white moment
                         I joined a light regiment of rain
                         as it marched up the walk
                         with the quickening step
                         of Spring on parade.
                                         
                                            --Betty Spence
                                               April 2013

                         

Poems in "Time of Singing", Summer 2011

The following poems were recently published in "Time of Singing" a Christian poetry journal.

Storming
   Isaiah 45:3

There is this
about pursuing
Presence--
you might just find yourself
in that secret place
where storms
go to die.
           BS

Rich in Sunrise

He amassed his wealth
panning for gold
settled at the heart
of sun streams
rivering
an Alabama sky
at first light.
           BS

Bearing Fruit in Old Age

This poem won a third place award in the Summer 2009 Time of Singing poetry contest: Trees.


Bearing Fruit In Old Age

One spring day a farmer
hammered eight nails,
long and rusty, into the trunk
of an aging apple tree
that quit bearing fruit.

That autumn the tired old tree,
having been goaded back to life,
produced a bumper crop of juicy
red apples, bigger and better
than had been seen before.

When asked what happened,
the farmer explained:
"Hammerin' in the rusty nails
gave it a shock to remind it
that its job is to produce apples."

                                 --Betty Spence

Grace Under Fire

A Poem I wrote several years ago during a time of family crisis.  I pray it will bless you as much as it did me during that particular time of my life.

Should I 
lose heart, O Lord,
grant me the courage of
a tiger jumping through a ring
of fire.
            --Betty Spence


**This poem was published in Time of Singing, Summer 2009.
Time of Singing is a high quality Christian poetry journal. Poems for submission may or may not have religious themes. But they must be suitable for Christian readers.
For subscription to TOS or for submissions contact editor,
Lora Zill, at Time of Singing, P.O. Box 149, Conneaut Lake, PA 16316 or timesing@zoominternet.net.