Poems and Commentaries by Robert E. L. Nesbitt, Jr., M.D.

My purpose in offering this compendium of verse and commentaries is to share with the reader the gifts of spirit that have helped me to find my way into clearings where I could see Truth dawning on the horizon.

Copyright 1999

Printed by Watermark Press

The International Library of Poetry

Owings Mills, Maryland

Table of Contents

(Excerpts Only)

Introduction

The primitive roots of our upbringing and the aesthetic sensuosity worked into our self-identity through classic education have been given depth and practical relevance on the anvil of cultural shocks and experiential assaults. And yet our conscious state of awareness is but the small fraction of our mental capacity that we recognize as the operative reality--"the uttered part of man's life....," as Carlyle aptly phrased it in his "Essays."

Unaccustomed as it is to the confinements of time and space, the unconscious mind gives us the dimension of a wide-angle lens, a vision of universal scope and perspective. It it were not so, our lives would be too empty......

Prologue

Dreams take root in verse, where their life and form are shaped by the Potter's will.

Tenuous Balance: Cowering before heat, nothing stirs, every leaf droops in silence.

Mortal Importunity: I'm fashioned by human genius... while the Potter reshapes my image to His.

Redress of Wretchedness: I have spiritual myopia.... my words are incomprehensible even to God.

Birthright: By birth, he was anointed to be special. (with commentary)

Teardrops From Heaven: God's worst pain occurred when abortion was foreseen. (with commentary)

Simple Verse For a Sad Day, Alienation: Emmanuel brings me peace, Tarnished: Today was like few others. (with commentary)

Figmentages: When families dissolve... children learn no Truth.

The Dust of Our Being: Washed by the nutriments of Living Water... in His likeness.

Our Problems, His Barricades: When the mist clears... Hope is our reservoir of innate goodness.

Disturbed Waiting: Perhaps we merely endure with no abiding.

Tragicomedy: Where spiritual essence lies smothered.

One Shadow At A Time: My cell is as one with all flesh. (with commentary)

Forgiveness: Our Unnatural Trait: ... its glimpse of Christ's vision. (with commentary)

Communion: (in Haiku style with 7-5 couplet)

The Way Back: For love and guidance.

Embraced: I was alone... Tapping Christ's wellspring.

The Magic and Beauty of Inspiration and Faith (Commentary): The timelessness of the soul.

Rarefied Senses: And the thrill of first discovery, like fresh insights into Divine will.

An Old Man's Legacy: He was mayor, judge, minister, physician, and custodian, while the villagers were the spark of his youthful spirit... to become a link with the ages, pursuant to Divine purpose, to preserve the old man's legacy and build upon his dreams

Once Upon A Lighted Age: A brilliant light set in heaven's North.