I post this with Elly Nelson's kind permission:
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I will rise above the grassy meadow, spiraling effortlessly upward with such grace you
will stand agape with awe;
above the grasses and the clacking yellow aspens,
above the tallest pines, where secrets you have never heard are whispered on the wind.
Higher and higher will I rise ‘til I am but a speck in your sight,
and higher still.
and you may wonder if I were but a dreamed thing after all.
I will ride the empyrean paths known only to me and God;
rising on drafts of earth-warmed air, higher even than the hawk,
climbing slowly, banking gently, my outstretched wings like burnished gold.
Yet, I will see you there below, with these eyes that see what you cannot;
wishing yourself with me,
hoping I will return…in time.
I know your little wings ofttimes beat frantically against life’s storms beyond this meadow,
Powerless ‘twould seem,
and because you stand there yet, waiting with hope in your heart, with a silent cry so
profound to see again these wings sweeping the air in power and joy, I will return.
I will gather my golden wings tightly to my sides and dip my head toward the sunlit meadow.
For the joy of seeing the wonder in your eyes,
I will speed toward you like an arrow shot from God’s own bow.
What is it then, that stirs you so to look upon this broad-winged golden bird?
Is it the power I have to rise and soar? Is it the freedom in peace to just be?
Would you have me lift you from the tethers of the earth, perhaps to glimpse eternity?
I would. For you I would, But the power you suppose I have is not of me.
I am but a bird, however grand, made and powered by the self-same hand that made
thee—small-winged only in your blindness, unable to soar, by a prison self-imposed.
It is another who has the power you seek, another who can lift you on His golden wings, if
You but ask.
It is the Holy One, the Lamb, who waits to show you flight beyond the stars,
beyond yourself, beyond whatever tiny dream you dream eternity might be.
Even as you stand there in a grassy meadow, longing to soar, yearning to set free your soul,
I see Him there beside you, waiting for you to ask Him to set you free, to teach you,
and guide you and support you lest you fall. Ask. Ask. For only on His wings are you
truly free.
©1967 Ellyn Louise Ades ©1968 Ellyn Ades Marshall ©2003-present Ellyn Marshall-Nelson
