safe

From our new current location of Yaoundé, Cameroon, I thought I'd share a favorite poem with you--written by Rupert Brooke.

Not that I felt particularly endangered several days ago when I was in a "less stable" country...and not actually that I feel substantially safer now that we are in a "more stable" country. But, just that, I have liked this poem for a long time and when it came to mind again tonight, I thought I'd share it with you.

I am often reminded of the fact that we are physically never truly safe, while at the same time we are completely safe from harm forever when "whether we live or we die, we are the Lord's." But this poem says that much more poignantly.

DEAR! of all happy in the hour, most blest
He who has found our hid security,
Assured in the dark tides of the world that rest,
And heard our word, ‘Who is so safe as we?’
We have found safety with all things undying,
The winds, and morning, tears of men and mirth,
The deep night, and birds singing, and clouds flying,
And sleep, and freedom, and the autumnal earth.
We have built a house that is not for Time’s throwing.
We have gained a peace unshaken by pain for ever.
War knows no power. Safe shall be my going,
Secretly armed against all death’s endeavour;
Safe though all safety’s lost; safe where men fall;
And if these poor limbs die, safest of all.