Caroling Dusk/Creed
For works with similar titles, see Creed.
CREED
If my garden oak spares one bare ledgeFor a boughed mistletoe to grow and wedge;And all the wild birds this year should knowI cherish their freedom to come and go;If a battered worthless dog, masterless, alone,Slinks to my heels, sure of bed and bone;And the boy just moved in, deigns a glance-assay,Turns his pockets inside out, calls, “Come and play!”If I should surprise in the eyes of my friendThat the deed was my favor he’d let me lend;Or hear it repeated from a foe I despise,That I whom he hated was chary of lies;If a pilgrim stranger, fainting and poor,Followed an urge and rapped at my door,And my husband loves me till death puts apart,Less as flesh unto flesh, more as heart unto heart:
I may challenge God when we meet That Day,And He dare not be silent or send me away.