Perlus Poetikas

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Published by Sponsors of Hope
www.sponsorsofhope.org
“For a kinder world.”

First edition 2023

Sponsors of Hope, 2023

ISBN: 9798851795343

This book is available at www.amazon.com

Sponsors of Hope is not affiliated with any

church, denomination or religious organization.

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This book is dedicated to Sally.

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 CONTENTS

O’er Uncharted Seas 1

It Couldn’t Be Done 2
The Night Has a Thousand Eyes 3
To Know All is to Forgive All 4
I Didn’t Have Time 5
Let It Pass 6
At Set of Sun 8
God Hath Not Promised  9
Do You Feed Your Body... 10
If...12
A Sample, Not a Sermon 14
The Power of Little 16
Habit 18
Worthwhile 19
First Place 20
Worry Worry Worry 22
If We Could See Beyond Today 24
The Wise Old Owl 25
Desiderata26
Temper28
I Take the Stand 29
The Clock of Life 30

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 O’ER UNCHARTED
SEAS
O’er uncharted seas to their heart’s desire
do men of faith set sail,
While beaten men walk with fearful hearts
along life’s beaten trail.

The men of faith will challenge

both men and Satan’s wrath,
But the beaten men will compromise
and walk the beaten path.

Beaten roads are for beaten men

as they walk with measured tread,
With tuneless souls they move along
to dwell among the dead.

But men of faith climb unscaled walls

and sail uncharted seas.
They dare to cross conventions’ bounds
to set the captives free.
- Thomas Wyatt

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 IT COULDN’T BE DONE
Somebody said that it couldn’t be done
but he with a chuckle replied,
That “maybe it couldn’t”, but he would be one
who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
on his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
that couldn’t be done, and he did it.

Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;

at least no one ever has done it”;
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat
and the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
that couldn’t be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done

there are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you, one by
one, the dangers that wait to assail you.

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But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start to sing as you tackle the thing that
“cannot be done” and you’ll do it.

- Edgar Guest

THE NIGHT HAS

A THOUSAND EYES
The night has a thousand eyes
and the day but one;
Yet the light of a whole world dies
when day is done.

The mind has a thousand eyes

and the heart but one;
Yet the light of a whole life dies
when love is done.
- Francis William Bourdillon

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 TO KNOW ALL IS TO
FORGIVE ALL
If I knew you and you knew me
if both of us could clearly see,
And with an inner sight divine
the meaning of your heart and mine.

I’m sure that we would differ less

and clasp our hands in friendliness,
Our thought would pleasantly agree
if I knew you, and you knew me.

If I knew you, and you knew me

as each one knows his own self, we
Could look each other in the face
and see therein a truer grace.

Life has so many hidden woes

so many thorns for every rose;
The “why” of things our hearts would see,
if I knew you and you knew me.
- Nixon Waterman

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 I DIDN’T HAVE TIME
I got up early one morning
and rushed right into the day;
I had so much to accomplish
I didn’t have time to pray.

Problems just tumbled about me

and heavier came each task,
“Why doesn’t God help me?” I wondered
He answered, “You didn’t ask.”

I tried to come into God’s presence;

I used all my keys at the lock.
God gently and lovingly chided,
“Why, child, you didn’t knock.”

I wanted to see joy and beauty

but the day toiled on, gray and bleak.
Why God didn’t show me I wondered,
He said, “You didn’t seek.”

I woke up early this morning

and paused before entering the day,
I had so much to accomplish
that I had to take time to pray.
- Grace L. Naessens

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 LET IT PASS
Don’t stoop my friend, to answer back,
why not just LET IT PASS?
You’ll find this giving word for word
will never pay, alas.
Though ‘tis true of human nature
this giving tit for tat,
Yet truly happy folks have found
a better way than that.
And though it seems impossible,
it’s better in the end,
To let them have their way and then,
just LET IT PASS, my friend.

I know sometimes it’s very hard

and seems it can’t be done,
But if you’ll learn this better way
a victory will be won;
For you will save what’s so worthwhile
both time and feelings too,
When you ignore what has been said,
don’t try to argue through.
For then you’ll know without a doubt
‘twas better in the end,
To let them have their way and then,
just LET IT PASS, my friend.

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Now some folks always answer back,
they never hold their peace;
In trying to defend themselves
it seems they never cease;
Giving vent to every feeling
whatever’s on the mind
Regardless of the consequence
then after all, to find
It didn’t pay and would have been
much better in the end,
To have borne it all in silence
and LET IT PASS, my friend.

For truly great folks never stoop

to answer petty things;
The unkind word, the bitter cut
that rankles deep and stings.
They are too big to notice them,
they simply pass them by,
And even with a smile sometimes
or twinkle in the eye.
For they have found that after all
‘twas better in the end,
To meet it with a smile, and then
just LET IT PASS, my friend.
- Unknown

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 AT SET OF SUN
If you sit down at set of sun
and count the acts that you have done,
And, counting, find
one self-denying deed, one word
That eased the heart of him who heard,
one glance most kind
That fell like sunshine where it went,
then you may count that day well spent.

But if, through all the livelong day,

you’ve cheered no heart, by yea or nay,
If, through it all
you’ve nothing done that you can trace
That brought the sunshine to one face,
no act most small
That helped some soul and nothing cost,
then count that day as worse than lost.
- George Eliot

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 GOD HATH NOT
PROMISED
God hath not promised skies always blue,
Flower-strewn pathways all our lives thru;
God hath not promised sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow peace without pain.

But God hath promised strength for the day,

Rest for the labor, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing sympathy undying love.
- Annie Johnson Flint

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 DO YOU FEED YOUR BODY
BUT STARVE YOUR SOUL?
He was a man some folks called great,
said he’d done good, had grappled with fate,
Till he’d won fame and some riches too
but in the crowd there were those who knew,
The soul of him so miserably small,
the real greatness he knew not at all,
For all through life he’d missed the real goal,
he fed his body but starved his soul.

He had no time for the little things

Which so much joy and contentment bring;
A blade of grass, a child’s tender look,
A promise sweet from the dear old book,
A little walk where the wild flowers twine,
A little talk with the Friend Divine,
Just half a man, not well rounded, whole,
Who fed his body but starved his soul.

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Then, when the day of accounting came,
In God’s own time and death called his name,
Then the poor frail worthless empty shell
He’d groomed and fed and tended so well
Was left behind just an earth bound clod,
While his shriveled soul went to face his God,
All unprepared and paid the full toll.
He’d fed his body but starved his soul.

So come my friend and we’ll walk today

Where the biggest and best have full sway.
We’ll follow the path that higher goes
To visions where the soul larger grows.
You’ll never hear them say of you then:
“Just one of the common heard of men
You’ll find anywhere from pole to pole,
Who fed their body but starved their soul.”

- Unknown

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 IF…
If you can keep your head when all about you
are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
but make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting

or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating
and yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream, & not make dreams your master;

if you can think, & not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
and treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
and stoop and build ‘em up with worn out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

and risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
and never breathe a word about your loss;

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If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
to serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue

or walk with Kings, nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
if all men count with you, but none too much.

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

with sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the earth and everything that’s in it
and, which is more, you’ll be a man, my son!
- Rudyard Kipling

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 A SAMPLE, NOT A SERMON
I’d rather see a sermon
than to hear one any day.
I’d rather one would walk with me
than merely tell the way.
The eye’s a better pupil
and more willing than the ear.
Fine counsel is confusing
but example’s always clear!

The best of all the preachers

are the men who live their creeds.
For to see good put in action
is what everybody needs!
I soon can learn to do it
if you’ll let me see it done.
I can watch your hands in action
but your tongue too fast may run.

The lectures you deliver

may be very wise and true,
But I’d rather get my lessons
by observing what you do.
I may misunderstand
the high advice you give,
But there’s no misunderstanding
how you act and how you live!

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When I see a deed of kindness
I am eager to be kind.
When a weaker brother stumbles
and a strong man stays behind,
Just to see if he can help him
then the wish grows strong in me
To become as good and thoughtful
as I know that friend to be!

All travelers can witness

that the best of guides today,
Is not the one who tells them,
but the one who shows the way.
One good man teaches many,
men believe what they behold.
One deed of kindness noticed
is worth forty that are told.

Who stands with men of honour

learns to hold his honour dear,
For right living speaks a language
which to everyone is clear.
Though an able speaker charms me
with his eloquence I say,
I’d rather see a sermon
than to hear one any day!
- Edgar Guest

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 THE POWER OF
LITTLE
Great events, we often find
on little things depend,
And very small beginnings
have oft a mighty end.

Letters joined make words

and words to books may grow,
As flake on flake descending
form an avalanche of snow.

A single utterance may good

or evil thought inspire;
One little spark enkindled
may set a town on fire.

What volumes may be written

with little drops of ink!
How small a leak unnoticed
a mighty ship will sink!

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A tiny insect’s labour
makes the coral strand,
And mighty seas are girdled
with grains of golden sand.

A daily penny saved

a fortune may begin;
A daily penny squandered
may lead to vice and sin.

Our life is made entirely

of moments multiplied,
As little streamlets, joining,
form the ocean’s tide.

Our hours, days, months & years,

are in small moments given;
They constitute our time below
eternity in Heaven.
- Unknown

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 HABIT
It is mighty hard to shake me;
in my brawny arms I take thee;
I can either make or break thee;
I am Habit!

Through each day I slowly mold thee;

soon my tight’ning chains enfold thee;
Then it is with ease I hold thee;
Thus is Habit!

I can be both good and vile;

I can even be worth your while,
Or the cause of your bitter cry,
I am Habit!

Harmless though I sometimes seem, yet

my strange force is like a magnet,
Like a great and greedy dragnet;
I am Habit!

Though you sometimes fear or doubt me

no one yet has lived without me;
I am present all about thee;
Thus is Habit!

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 Choose me well when you are starting
seldom is an easy parting;
I am a devil or a darling!
I am Habit!
- Robert E. Sly

WORTHWHILE
It is easy enough to be pleasant
when life flows by like a song,
But the man worthwhile is one who will smile
when everything goes dead wrong.

For the test of the heart is trouble,

and it always comes with the years,
And the smile that is worth the praises on earth
is the smile that shines through tears.
- Ella Wheeler Wilcox

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 FIRST PLACE
I was longing to serve the Master,
but alas I was laid aside
From the busy field of workers
in the harvest field so wide
They were few, yes, few in number
and I could not understand
Why I should be left inactive:
it was not as I had planned.

I was longing to serve the Master

and the need indeed was great.
For me it was easy to labour
but oh, it was hard to wait,
To lie quite still and be silent
while the song was borne to my ear
From the busy field of workers
in the harvest field so dear!

I was longing to serve just to serve the Master

but He led to a desert place
And there as we stopped and rested
His eyes looked down in my face,
So full of tender reproaching
they filled me with sad surprise!
Did He think I had grudged my service
or counted it sacrifice?

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Oh, Master, I long to serve, just to serve thee,
there are so few at the best,
Let me off to the fields, I pleaded,
I care not to stay and rest.
I knelt at His feet imploring,
I gazed in His face above.
My child, He said, don’t you know
your service is nothing without your love?

I was longing to serve, to serve my Master,

oh, this was my one fond thought,
For this I was ever pleading
as His footstool in prayer I sought,
But there in that lonely desert
apart from the busy scene
It dawned on me slowly and clearly
where my great mistake had been.

My mind was so full of service, just service,

I had drifted from Him apart,
And He longed for the sweet communion,
that union of heart with heart!

Well, I sought and I found forgiveness,

while mine eyes with pain were dim.
And now, though His work is still precious,
the FIRST place is kept for HIM!
- Unknown
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 WORRY WORRY WORRY
Worry worry worry
she knew worry was a sin,
But each night she’d worry worry
till her loved ones all were in.

Worry worry worry,

it was like a funeral pall,
If they climbed up on a ladder
She was sure that they would fall.

Even at the hour of midnight

she would steal from bed to bed,
Listen to the sleepers breathing,
making sure they were not dead.

If they sneezed they had pneumonia,

if they coughed it was TB!
Till the very air about her
got as blue as blue could be.

Late from school, why she’d get frantic,

surely they had been kidnapped!
Every tumble brought her running
positive their bones had snapped.

Every stray dog had the rabies,

every tramp was a criminal,
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Till at last it seemed it really
wasn’t safe to live at all!

When they were out in the traffic

her alarm was so extreme
That one night she slept exhausted
and she dreamed a worried dream.

Dreamed that God had grown impatient

with His child who worried so
For He personally had managed
all that happened here below.

Dreamed He took her loved ones to Him

So she needn’t worry more,
They were all safe up in Heaven,
None were left to worry for.

In her dream she was a ‘sobbing,

“Even though my worries cease,
Lord, I find I cannot bear it,
such an empty bitter peace!”

When she woke they were still ‘round her,

all her children & her John,
Did it teach her? Not a lesson!
Worriedly she worries on!
- Unknown
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 IF WE COULD SEE
BEYOND TODAY
If we could see beyond today
as God can see,
If all the clouds should roll away
the shadows flee,
O’er present grieves we would not fret,
each sorrow we would soon forget,
For many joys are waiting yet,
for you and me.

If we could know beyond today

as God doth know,
Why dearest treasures pass away
and tears must flow,
We’d know that darkness leads to light,
and dreary days will soon grow bright,
Someday life’s wrongs will be made right,
faith tells us so.

If we could see, if we could know

we often say,
But God in love a veil doth throw
across our way,

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 We cannot see what lies before,
and so we cling to Him the more,
He leads us till this life is o’er,
trust and obey.
- Unknown

A WISE OLD OWL

A wise old owl lived in an oak;
The more he saw the less he spoke;
The less he spoke the more he heard:
Why can’t all we be like that bird?
- Edward Hersey Richards

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 DESIDERATA
Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender, be on good
terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen

to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too
have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others, you

may become vain or bitter, for always there will be
greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your

plans. Keep interested in your own career, however
humble; it is a real possession in the changing
fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for

the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind
you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for
high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.

Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all

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aridity and disenchantment, it is as perennial as the
grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,

gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden
misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark
imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and
loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle

with yourself. You are a child of the universe no
less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to
be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no
doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever

you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors
and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep
peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery
and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be
cheerful.

Strive to be happy.
- Max Ehrmann

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 TEMPER
When I have lost my temper
I have lost my reason too.
I’m never proud of anything
which angrily I do.

When I have talked in anger,

and my cheeks were flaming red,
I have always uttered something
which I wish I had not said,

In anger I have never

done a kindly deed or wise,
But many things for which I felt
I should apologize.

In looking back across my life,

and all I’ve lost or made,
I can’t recall a single time
when fury ever paid.

So I struggle to be patient,
for I’ve reached a wiser age;
I do not want to do a thing
or speak a word in rage.

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 I have learned by sad experience
that when my temper flies,
I never do a worthy deed,
a decent deed or wise.
- Unknown

I TAKE THE STAND

I take the stand, I count it done.
God answers through His precious son.
It is His Word, it cannot fail,
though all the powers of hell assail.
So come what may, the promise mine,
I’ll hold it to the end of time.

I take the stand, I count it done.

God answers through His precious son.
He’s never failed. Oh praise His name.
For Jesus Christ is just the same.
So live or die, or sink or swim,
through every test I’ll trust in Him.
- Unknown

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 THE CLOCK OF LIFE
The clock of life is wound but once
and no man has the power
To tell just when the hands will stop
at late or early hour.

Now is the only time you own.

Live, love, toil with a will.
Place no faith in time,
for the clock may soon be still!
- Unknown

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 WHAT CAN
YOU DO
TO HELP?

We all need to be kinder to each other. Let’s

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07.31.23

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 Also by Gary Britton:
---
BE BOLD. BELIEVE!
Inspirational Readings for Every Day of the Year.

BOLD AND BELIEVING!

More Inspirational Readings for Every Day of the Year.

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WHISPERS FROM THE WORLD BEYOND

Angel stories & glimpses of the unseen world.

I DON’T BELIEVE IN GOD! BUT...

Science or God. Do we really have to choose?

THE CERTAINTY OF EVERYTHING

The secrets of the universe revealed!

PASSION & ATTRACTION

Practical advice on love, sex & relationships!

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