On the Occasion of the Ice Storm

This post is a little on the lighter side of things. I was inspired to write a few original limericks. They are not of the caliber of the previous posts, but maybe they will provide a chuckle. Enjoy.

There once was an ice storm in Greenville
It came down so much that the trees fell.
All the power lines broke,
And Duke Power’s a joke.
Six days with no light but a candle.

The roads on that day were not nice,
And the steps to my house were solid ice.
Five steps left; that’s all,
On my butt I did fall.
Good thing swearing has never been a vice.

I can’t spend the night in my apartment.
Too cold to be fit for a tenant.
How cold? Nobody knows.
But the toilet-water’s froze.
At least I can stay with my parents.

--Vivere Christus

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

--Robert Frost

The Pulley

When God at first made man,
Having a glass of blessings standing by -
“Let us,” said he, “pour on him all we can;
Let the world’s riches, which dispersed lie,
Contract into a span.”

So strength first made a way,
Then beauty flowed, then wisdom, honor, pleasure
When almost all was out, God made a stay,
Perceiving that, alone of all his treasure,
Rest in the bottom lay.

“For if I should,” said he,
“Bestow this jewel also on my creature,
He would adore my gifts instead of me,
And rest in nature, not the God of nature:
So both should losers be.

“Yet let him keep the rest,
But keep them with repining restlessness;
Let him be rich and weary, that at least,
If goodness lead him not, yet weariness
May toss him to my breast.”

--George Herbert (1593-1633)

Jehovah Tsidkenu

For those of you who do not read Hebrew Jehovah Tsidkenu means the Lord our Righteousness ( Jeremiah 23:6, 33:16).

Jehovah Tsidkenu

I once was a stranger to grace and to God,
I knew not my danger, and felt not my load;
Though friends spoke in rapture of Christ on the tree,
Jehovah Tsidkenu was nothing to me.

Like tears from the daughters of Zion that roll,
I wept when the waters went over His soul;
Yet thought not that my sins had nailed to the tree
Jehovah Tsidkenu—’twas nothing to me.

When free grace awoke me, by light from on high,
Then legal fears shook me, I trembled to die;
No refuge, no safety in self could I see—
Jehovah Tsidkenu my Saviour must be.

My terrors all vanished before the sweet name;
My guilty fears banished, with boldness I came
To drink at the fountain, life giving and free—
Jehovah Tsidkenu is all things to me.

Robert Murray McCheyne

The Road Goes Ever On

    Roads go ever ever on,
     Over rock and under tree,
   By caves where never sun has shone,
     By streams that never find the sea;
   Over snow by winter sown,
     And through the merry flowers of June,
   Over grass and over stone,
     And under mountains of the moon.

   Roads go ever ever on
     Under cloud and under star,
   Yet feet that wandering have gone
     Turn at last to home afar.
   Eyes that fire and sword have seen
     And horror in the halls of stone
   Look at last on meadows green
     And trees and hills they long have known.

The Road goes ever on and on
     Down from the door where it began.
   Now far ahead the Road has gone,
     And I must follow, if I can,
   Pursuing it with eager feet,
     Until it joins some larger way
   Where many paths and errands meet.
     And whither then? I cannot say.
 
   The Road goes ever on and on
     Out from the door where it began.
   Now far ahead the Road has gone,
     Let others follow it who can!
   Let them a journey new begin,
     But I at last with weary feet
   Will turn towards the lighted inn,
     My evening-rest and sleep to meet.

-- J R R Tolkien