Summit of Life's Hope-slope

 The sun seemed to stir from that summit this morning, washing the sky in riveting pink before slipping behind a wall of gray...

The Summit of life’s hope-slope; may we strive to reach its top

Forever straining to that scrim from whence Time’s mercies drop

And may its zeal and passion stir us ever up and on

From earth’s thorn-thistle thoroughfare to Heaven’s ageless dawn

See how seasons spin their sonnets from a thread of ether ilk

Or, how echoes weave upon it through Time’s sun and sable silk

Run, wee one toward your dream-tree groaning with prospect

Soon you will turn to see its crown in hoary halo decked

Ah, depression and oppression and confession confound

Yet hope rings forth eternally where God and grace abound

For man, though foolish fumbling, stumbling flesh cannot annul

The hope of Jesus’ righteousness and pardon paid in full

…and thus we press by faith toward a goal we cannot see

The Summit of life’s hope-slope ends beyond mortality

So now we touch our feet upon this cold and chafing sod

For we are on a journey to Hope’s Fold; the arms of God

© Janet Martin