Poems (Curwen)/Creeds

by Annie Isabel Curwen

Creeds.

Which is the false? and which the true?
 And who is wrong? and who is right?
There are so many teachers who
 Condemn each other's chosen light—
So many creeds to-day, that we
 Grow fearful lest we go astray,
Yet Christ said simply —"Follow Me!
 I am the Light, the Truth, the Way."

"Lo! Christ is here!" Lo! Christ is there!
 The varied calls the soul confuse;
And midst the devious paths we fear
 Lest we the one true path shall lose:
That 'mong the 'wildering lights that blaze
 We shall not shape our course aright—
But lose, in their deceptive rays
 The only one, true 'leading Light.'

Who follows Christ? Not he who turns
 His back upon the sinful soul;
But he whose heart with pity yearns
 To make the wretched sinner whole.
Not he who selfishly doth spend
 His days, in hoarding worthless pelf,
But he, who for both foes and friends
 Unselfishly denies himself.

Who follows Christ? Not he who prays
 The loudest, and the oftenest—No!
What is it, that the Master says?
 "Many call Lord! I do not know."
But he who lightens loads of care
 Who binds the wounds that smart and bleed,
His is the most effectual prayer,
 And his the highest, holiest creed.