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  • Author's Testimony & Introduction--FAQS
    • Table of Contents
  • 1 His Kingdom to Prepare
  • 2 My Choice Companions
  • 3 Companions
  • 4 Companions II
  • 5 A Mother's MTC Farewell
  • 6 Who Will Dare for Christ
  • 7 To a Chosen Generation
  • 8. I Feel Such a Strangeness
  • 9. Not Me
  • 10. My Brother's Father
  • 11. Not Far Away
  • 12. Questions for Our Leaders
  • 13. Questions From Our Leaders
  • 14. The Visit
  • 15. Show and Tell
  • 16. Within Our Slumber We Will Dream
  • 17. Servants in the Shadows
  • 18. Joya Escojida/Chosen Jewel
  • 19. Las Aguas Del Senor/The Waters of the Lord
  • 20. Come Fasting to the Meeting House
  • 21. As Voices Join in Sacred Sabbath Worship
  • 22. A Child's Baptismal Day
  • 23. In Temple White
  • 24. Temple Hill
  • 25. This Precious Day
  • 26. The Translators
  • 27. I Your Husband Who Have Fallen [First Poem of The Repentance Trilogy.]
  • 28. The Wife's Song
  • 29. Remember Not Past Years
  • 30. A Priesthood Lullaby
  • 31. The Season of Our Need
  • 32. Cherished Daughter, Valiant Servant
  • 33. Daughter, Hear and Heed Your Savior's Voice
  • 34. Bird Mom
  • 35. Eric's Song
  • 36. A Wedding Song of Praise
  • 37. Testimonies to My Daughters
  • 38. Prayer for a Caring Granddaughter
  • 39. Firstborn Son and Firstborn Daughter
  • 40. Father's Day
  • 41 The Hospital
  • 42. The Children of the World
  • 43. For the Healers of the World
  • 44. Simple Heroes of Our Day
  • 45. To This World So Prone to Peril
  • 46. Somewhere
  • 47. Servant of Servants
  • 48. We Wish That You Were Here
  • 49. The Teacher
  • 50. To Protect Marriage and Family
  • 51. Earth's Unborn Children Weeping
  • 52. Prayers for the Peacekeepers
  • 53. That Patriot Dreams Will Come to Pass
  • 54. We Would Do It All Again
  • 55. So Much More
  • 56. Passage and Pilot
  • 57. Because of the Son
  • 58. Growing Up
  • 59. The Olive Leaf
  • 60. Until All Are One With Him
  • 61. Death Has Not Won, But Lost
  • 62. Call to Arms
  • 63. When All Is Done
  • 64. How Rarely Have I Come This Way
  • 65. At a Place So Very Different
  • 66. My Best Years Lie Ahead
  • 67. Sons of Zion, Jesus Calls You
  • 68. Come, Sing Your Song to Me
  • 69. May It Be Always So
  • 70. Until Safe in Heaven's Embrace
  • 71. Seek the Spirit
  • 72. Undertow
  • 73. If I Am Given Time
  • 74. Sons and Daughters, Heirs of Promise
  • 75. Wrestling for a Call
  • 76. When Everything is Ready
  • 77. One Thousand Times
  • 78. Tearful and Fearful I Prayed Through the Evening
  • 79. Tell Us, How Do Servants and Teachers Like You Come Along?
  • 80. Blessings for Beloved Servants
  • 81. Our Gayla's Free at Last
  • 82. I Am a Witness of Your Worth
  • 83. I'll Live With You Again
  • 84. Brother, Friend, and Fellow Servant
  • 85. Grieve Not for Him
  • 86. Press On From Payson's Hill
  • 87. The Righteous Live in Me
  • 88. Homecoming
  • 89. In Honor of My Friends Unseen
  • 90. [An Invitation] We Call to You
  • 91. Fellow Americans, Let Us Talk
  • 92. Brothers and Sisters, Fulfilled Together
  • 93. What We Have Lost in Our Digital Paradise
  • 94. Running Out of Time
  • 95. Ere You Hear the Sound of Battle
  • 96. 21st Century Gadiantons
  • 97 The Setting Apart
  • 98. What Do You Say?
  • 99. To a Woman of Tempered Steel
  • 100. A Correction Soon Begins
  • 101. The Quiet of the Morning
  • 102. Slippery Slope
  • 103. Stormy--We've Got to Stop Meeting Like This
  • 104. Warriors of the Mind and Soul [Poetic Process Discussion]
  • 105. He Wrote Just as He Lived
  • 106. Life Singer
  • 107. Zion's Daughter Leanore
  • 108. Does Your House of Worship Now Seem Lonely
  • 109. Crucify the "Old Man of Sin"
  • 110. We Loved Them Once
  • 111. Winter's Mothers God Holds Most Dear
  • 112. Lord, Please Forgive Us Anew
  • 113. Patriot's Faith Will Triumph Yet
  • 114. Indexing
  • 115. I Am Liberty
  • 116. The Beauty
  • 117. To Aid the Innocents Abused
  • 118. A Noble Bugler Has Returned
  • 119. The Music of the Lord
  • 120. Frog Cat
  • 121. God's Storms
  • 122. The Daughters of the Lord
  • 123. Come Back, Before Our Souls for Error Yearn
  • 124. Don't Tell Me That My Time Has Come
  • 125. From the Dust [Comes The Book of Mormon]
  • 126 To See the Sun Again
  • 127. Mourning America
  • 128. For Baby Adam
  • 129. Despedida Ansiosa/Anxious Farewell
  • 130. Between the Lines
  • 131. Will You Ever Ask the Questions
  • 132. The Days I Spent With You
  • 133. For Nelda
  • 134. The Covenant Path
  • 135. Heartland Dream
  • 136 We Sent Our Very Best
  • 137. Sisters of the Covenant, Daughters of God
  • 138 Sisters Share Their Cheerful Hearts
  • 139 God Looketh On the Heart
  • 140 What of Me?
  • 141 The Return
  • 142 Latter-day Defenders
  • 143. "Come and See, Come and Help, Come and Share"
  • 144. The Best of Father's Seed I've Known
  • 145. [Complete, but pending.]
  • 146. When the Days of Wait Are Over
  • 147. Red Kettles and Silver Bells
  • 148. Victory
  • 149. He Lacks Not Faith
  • 150. "Am I a Friend of Jesus?" [Spring 2020 Semi-Final Examination]
  • 151. Christ is Our Refuge Once Again
  • 152. Until We Kneel at Our Savior's Feet
  • 153. Where You Stand, You Should Still Lift
  • 154. No Day Shall Pass nor Night Shall Fall
  • 155. We Pray for You
  • 156. Bountiful Harvest
  • 157. A Message of Peace and Love
  • 158. Israel, Israel God Shall Save Thee
  • 159. For Those Who Wait
  • 160. Friends Who Intercede
  • 161. Young Women's "Frog Camp"
42. The Children of the World

[In praise of children’s counselors, advocates, and protectors—beloved of the Savior.]

I

From time to time within our midst,
There may arise a shooting star.
An intellect so bright and crisp,
It dazzles, coldly, from afar.

How rarer still their constant light,
That radiates a warming glow.
It drives out fear with courage bright.
Praise God, such caring hearts we know!

Still, most think life is for the loud.
On every hand we seem to spy,
The vain and vulgar leading crowds,
The humble flee the public’s eye.

And so we laud these quiet souls,
Of simple virtues, loving hearts.
For once, we praise those of like mind,
The healers of the helping arts.

So many years they’ve labored well,
The children’s pain their sacred trust,
With faith, they fought their parents’ hell. 
They served the young, as serve they must.

Some hearts, like ships with nets unfurled, 
Will seek the children of the world.


II


These do not labor all alone,
A valiant host joins in this fight.
Through care and craft, their love is shown, 
A flame of hope in sin’s grim night.

This is no struggle for the weak,
Their judgment challenged, patience worn.
Endowed with little, they dare seek, 
To serve, despite the public’s scorn.

None but the brave can drink this cup, 
Of quick rebuke and damning praise.
While some may feast, these servants sup,
On meager fare, through lengthy days.

And yet their bonds of love grow strong!
By sharing hardship, they are one.
Through tender service they belong,
To Him who’s cause they will have won.

To all such we should honor give,
And wish them Godspeed through their days!
We bid them strength, and hope we live,
So as to aid them on their way.

Some feet, though weary, blistered, and unshod,
Will search the paths where Jesus trod.


III

We need not visit distant lands,
To see the pain of hopeless years.
Nor need we feel His side and hands,
To know the cause of bloody tears.

No, all too close, we see the need,
For faith’s strong shield and Spirit’s sword.
As long as life is ruled by greed,
There will be lambs, in pain, ignored.

Then seek we all to love each one.
Tis not my boy, nor tis your girl,
To Him whose suffering has won,
The ransomed children of the world.

Then let us join them as they strive,

To feed His lambs, to seek and find,
Each one that’s lost and all alone:
And bring them, joyfully, back Home. 

And should we err, in doubt or pride,
To think we do this work alone.
The night reveals what day can hide
The countless diamonds of His throne.

Some hands, like those from Galilee,
Will save those tossed on stormy seas.



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Context

A member of the office staff where I once worked asked me to write a poem for a good friend who was about to retire from a public counseling agency. Her friend, “Paul,” was formerly a priest who lived and worked for many years in Hong Kong. While there, Paul met his future wife, “Rebecca,” then serving as a nun. Paul’s poem, “The Children of the World,” was based upon my personal experiences with members of the helping professions at BYU.  

The broader story of “Paul” and “Rebecca” was compelling, and so I recorded “Rebecca’s” life of service and sacrifice in a separate “free verse” poem “To a Woman of Tempered Steel” found as No. 99, based upon supplied additional background information. If the emotions which I felt so strongly as I received these verses should, in some small fashion, be conveyed by the Spirit, then praise God, and recognize the truth with which I am now comfortable—all good things come from the Lord.