These Things are Good

To give a little homeless child a home,
A piece of silver in a beggar's hand,
A load of wood to the old, helpless poor,
The sound of rain upon a thirsty land;

To comfort people who are sore oppressed,
And love your neighbor with a kindly grace;
To speak to stranger when they come to church,
And show the world a cheerful smiling face;

These things are good: the smell of cedar trees,
Lupines as blue as heaven in a field,
The drift of smoke, the flame of yellow broom,
A scarred old tree whose broken bark has healed,

White snow to hide the shivering fields from sight,
Blue shadows in the folds of a ravine,
A little gift-edged card with Christmas trees,
A frozen pond where silver willows lean.

For all good things abide: the fir trees growing,
A love of home and fires in a grate,
A lighted doorway and a table set,
And mother watching for us at the gate.

~ Edna Jaques