Tag: christianity

  • In This Pennsylvania Field

    by Jake Frost

    In this Pennsylvania field
    Our heroes have their rest
    Those who were our sword and shield
    Our bravest and our best

    The ones who gave the greatest gift
    That man can ever give
    That their fellow countrymen
    Through their sacrifice might live

    That day on Flight Ninety-Three
    When evil stole the sky
    And they fought against the enemy
    So that no more would die

    In the war that good must always win
    Each shoed the mettle of his soul
    As into war they entered in
    With the battle cry, “Let’s roll!”

    Like angels in the sky they fought
    Against the wicked foe
    And like the victory Saint Michael wrought
    They cast the evil low

    And here their shining wings came down
    Here their battle was finally done
    And they made this into hallowed ground
    With the victory they won

    Here their dust mingles in the earth
    Here their sacred dust still lies
    And will until the world’s rebirth
    When against the darkened skies

    Bright like the dawn Saint Michael stands
    Astride the sea and shore
    With the trumpet in his hands
    At the final end of war

    The world’s foundations then shall shake
    At his might trumpet blast
    And all God’s saints he shall awake
    To rise again at last

    When on that day the stars all fall
    The angels who guard this ground
    To our heroes as they rise shall call,
    “The Master beckons with a crown!”

    And gather all that holy band
    And give each a shining stole
    And lead them into Glory Land
    With their angel’s cry, “Let’s roll!”

    From my book Wings Upon the Unseen Gust

  • Saint Brendan

    from the book: From Dust to Stars, Poems by Jake Frost

    At Saint Ailbe’s Abbey,
    In the silent island f the sea,

    Saint Brendan asked to stay,
    But the ancient abbot answered, “Nay,”

    “It is not to be,” said he,
    “God calls you out to sea,”

    “He has wonders there to show,”
    “Wonders He wills that you would know.”

    “He bids journey, sails unfurled,”
    “Again into His wonder-world,”

    “To search the secrets of His creation,”
    “Secrets hid since time’s foundation,”

    “To see what yet no eye has seen,”
    “And know what yet no man has dreamed.”

    And so upon the waves once more
    Brendan pushed his coracle from the shore

    And cast himself upon the brine
    There to seek what he would find

    Crossing wide the heaving swell
    In search of what the world would tell

    He set off to wander and explore
    And knock upon the hidden door

    And when he saw, but could not see
    What some hidden thing might be,

    He prayed to God fervently,
    “Reveal to me this mystery,”

    “Of Your world that You have made,”
    “Let me know what is,” he prayed

    And as he sought, so was it shown
    And the secret of wonders to him made known

    Thus many marvels did he find,
    Dazzling to man’s questing mind

    So that the hermit Paul confessed,
    “Wandering Brendan, you are blessed,”

    “For to you has God revealed”
    “Things which were before kept sealed.”

    So to all you who would seek know,
    Who in dreams the seeds of wonder sow,

    Nurture the wonder so that it grows,
    And follow the way that Brendan shows,

    For since first there was mystery to unwind,
    It has been given to those who seek that they shall find