Proper 28
Poems
A Gospel Treasury
Poems Based on Lectionary Gospels
Two men sat in one end of a lifeboat,
Sat quietly while others worked
To bail out the water with buckets.
And this was the reason they shirked:
The hole where the lifeboat was leaking
Was away at the opposite end.
So bailing should be others' burden.
At least, that's what they would contend.
The same logic would seem to be present
In the lives of so many today
Who pay no attention to problems
To which fellow creatures fall prey.
They think they've been given their talents
To use for themselves all alone.
And the thought they might use them for others
Is something they've never been shown.
Yet the lifeboat of life that we live in
Is certainly all of one piece.
So if either end were to stop floating,
The other end surely would cease.
The seas of our lives that are stormy
Can teach us that we need to share.
We need and are needed by people.
Together we've talent to spare.
Sat quietly while others worked
To bail out the water with buckets.
And this was the reason they shirked:
The hole where the lifeboat was leaking
Was away at the opposite end.
So bailing should be others' burden.
At least, that's what they would contend.
The same logic would seem to be present
In the lives of so many today
Who pay no attention to problems
To which fellow creatures fall prey.
They think they've been given their talents
To use for themselves all alone.
And the thought they might use them for others
Is something they've never been shown.
Yet the lifeboat of life that we live in
Is certainly all of one piece.
So if either end were to stop floating,
The other end surely would cease.
The seas of our lives that are stormy
Can teach us that we need to share.
We need and are needed by people.
Together we've talent to spare.
