©2015 Susan Noyes Anderson

image by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash

Faith lost is like a promise broken
somewhere in the night.
Unanswered pleas in words unspoken
push away the light.

©2015 Susan Noyes Anderson
written for Stake Women’s Conference

image by Kamille Corry at
churchofjesuschrist.org

Beyond the veil that binds the earth
lie memories we lost at birth,
rich memories of power and light
now hidden from our earthly sight.

©2015 Susan Noyes Anderson

Photo by Roland Lösslein on Unsplash

A new train chugging round the bend,
I wish I knew where it would end.
So much momentum, smoke and steel,
unstoppable from stack to wheel.

©2015 Susan Noyes Anderson

Don’t speak Dutch to an Englishman
to tell him how you feel.
Use words that he can understand
to show your love is real.

©2015 Susan Noyes Anderson

Photo by Andrew Alexander on Unsplash

Come, celebrate the joys of spring,
bright days of reawakening,
when spirits rise from winter long
to soar on wings of sweet birdsong.

©2015 Susan Noyes Anderson

Image by Heinrich Hofmann

When all about me seems to dim
and colors change to muted gray,
I turn my mind and heart to Him
who carries worldly woes away.

©2015 Susan Noyes Anderson

Photo by Kristina Flour on Unsplash

Do not speak a word; I tell you.
Utter  not  one  word.
These days your every phrase strikes me
as patently absurd.

©2015 Susan Noyes Anderson

hope

When trouble steals the blood that flows
beneath my rosy cheek—
when ashes gather round my eyes
and lips refuse to speak—
I let the sorrow carry me
on silvered wings—so high
that even in the darkness
I return as butterfly.

∞§∞

When Buddah was on his death bed, he noticed his young disciple, Anan, was weeping.
“Why are you weeping, Anan?” he asked.
“Because the light of the world is about to be extinguished, and we will be in darkness.”
The Buddha summoned up all his remaining energy and  spoke what were to be his final words on earth.
“Anan, Anan, be a light unto yourself.”
– Buddhist scripture

There isn’t enough darkness in all the world to snuff out the light of one little candle.
–Robert Alden

Before you can see the light, you have to deal with the darkness.
–Anonymous

Faith is seeing the light with your heart when all your eyes see is darkness.
–Usman Ismaheel

I saw also that there was an ocean of darkness and death, but an infinite ocean of light and love, which flowed over the ocean of darkness.
–George Fox

Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all the darkness.
–Desmond Tutu

Other related poems are pictured with titles below. For more options, you can visit the home page and click on an appropriately themed category like “Hope Poems,” “Hardship Poems,” etc.