Every once in a while I come across a poem that I feel like sharing. I bought a little book of poetry a couple of weeks ago from the Goodwill for a quarter. It is called, Best Remembered Poems, edited by Martin Gardner. In it I found this little gem that I had never read called, Out Where the West Begins by Arthur Chapman. Sometimes it is hard to believe the things you have yet to read. It is a famous poem, and it has been set to music, but it is new to me:
Out where the handclasp’s a little stronger,Out where the smile dwells a little longer,
That’s where the West begins;
Out where the sun is a little brighter,
Where the snows that fall are a trifle whiter,
Where the bonds of home are a wee bit tighter,
That’s where the West begins.Out where the skies are a trifle bluer,
Out where friendship’s a little truer,
That’s where the West begins;
Out where a fresher breeze is blowing,
Where there’s laughter in every streamlet flowing,
Where there’s more of reaping and less of sowing,
That’s where the West begins.Out where the world is in the making,
Where fewer hearts in despair are aching,
That’s where the West begins;
Where there’s more of singing and less of sighing,
Where there’s more of giving and less of buying,
And a man makes friends without half trying –
That’s where the West begins.
And I can’t help but mention that this reminds me of a piece of verse about the East (from C.S. Lewis’ The Voyage of the Dawn Treader):
Where the sky and water meet,
Where the waves grow sweet,Doubt not, Reepicheep,
To find all you seek,There is the utter East.
Perhaps we are all longing for direction (or, at least, we should be).
- Daniel 6:10 ¶ When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem…
- Luke 9:53 But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem.
