PLANET OF MAN
I NEED YOU
Just as a poet needs inspiration to
write a masterpiece, I need you...
Just as an artist needs a subject for
his work of art, I need you...
Just as a teacher needs a pupil to
mold into greatness, I need you...
Just as a composer needs a theme to
create a timeless melody, I need you...
James E. Session,
Death Row, USA
PLANET OF MAN
Where are you going, poor Planet of
Man
With your rage and your fear, and a
murderous plan.
When riches together with hatred will
walk,
And brother with brother, refuses to
talk.
Our children aare dying, because they're
in need
And some over-rich man advances his
greed.
When the mightiest nations go off to
war
And millions of dead are kept as a
score
When a husband in rage is killing his
wife,
And their children are looking, and
copy their strife
When the rich slay their servants with
a powerful lie
And nations are thirsting, and just
left to die
When forests are felled, destroyed by
the mile,
And those that have lived there are
given a smile,
When the seas and the land are raped
for their gold
Then surely you'll see this Earth's
growing old.
When children in rage on their elders
do turn
And when in a war, great mountains
can burn,
So look forward man, to when Earth
is lost
Where will you be when Earth's clothed
in frost
Will we look to God, and say thats our
best
We never meant God, to try and to test.
Our Earth give us back, yes, give us
a chance
We promise, dear God, our ways to advance
!
James E. Session,
Death Row, USA
A Young Mother And Her Children.
The young mother set her foot on the path of life. "Is the way long?" she asked. And the Angel said: "Yes. And the way is hard. And you will be old before you reach the end of it. But the end will be better than the beginning." But the young mother was happy, and she would not believe that anything could be better than these years. So she played with her children, and gathered flowers for them along the way, and bathed them in the clear streaming and the sun shone on them and life was good, and the young mother cried. Nothing will ever be lovelier than this.
Then night came. And storm,, and the
path was dark, and the children shook with fear and cold, and the mother
drew them close and covered them with her mantle, and the children said
"Oh, mother, we are not afraid for you are near and no hrm cn come." nd
the mother said "This is better than the brightness of the day because
I have taught my children courage'. And the morning came and there was
a hill ahead and the children climbed and grew weary, and the mother was
weary, but at all times she said to her children "a little patience and
we are there". So the children climbed, and when they reacht~d the top
they said "We could not have done it without you, Mother" And the mother
when she laid down that night, looked at the stairs and said: "This is
a better day than the last, for my children have learned fortitude in the
face of hardness. Yesterday I gave them courage, today I have given them
strength." And the next day came strange clouds which darkened the earth,
cloud of war and hate and evil, and the children groped and stumbled and
the mother said: "Look up, lift your eyes to the light." And the children
looked and saw, above the clouds an Everlasting Glory, and it guided them
and brought them beyond the darkness. And that night the mother said:
"This is the best day of all, because
I have shown my children God". And the day went on, and the weeks and the
months and the years, and the mother grew old and she was little and bent
over. But her children were now tall and strong, and now walked with courage.
And when the way got hard they helped their mother, and when the way was
rough, they lifted her, for she was as light as a feather; and at last
they came to a hill, and beyond the hill they could see a shining road
and golden gate flung wide. And the mother said: "I have reached the end
of my journey. And now I know that the end is better than the beginning.
For my children can walk alone, and their children after them." And the
children said: "You will always walk with us, mother, even when you have
gone through the gate". And they stood and watched as she went on alone,
and the gates closed after her. And they said: "We cannot see her, but
she is with us still. A mother like ours is more than a memory. She is
a living presence." And the children taught their children what their mother
has taught them....
Written by death row prisoner James E. Session.
ANGEL OF THE FLOWER
"When God puts a burden upon you, He puts His own hand underneath."
There is a little plant, small and stunted, growing under the shade of a broad-spreading oak; and this little plant values the shade which covers it, and greatly does it esteem the quiet rest which covers it, and greatly does it esteem the quiet rest which its noble friend affords. But a blessing is designed for this little, plant.
Once upon a time there came along a woodsman, and with his sharp ax, he felled the oak. the plant wept and cried.
"My shelter is departed; every rough wind will blow upon me, and every storm will seek to uproot me."
"No, no," said the Angel of the Flower "now will the sun get to thee, now will the shower fall on thee, in more copious abundance then before; now thy stunted form shall spring up into loveliness, and thy flower, which could never have expanded itself to its perfedtion shall now laugh in the sunshine, and men shall say, "How greatly has that plant increased! How glorious has become its beauty through the removal of that which was its shade and its delight!"
"See you not, then, that God may take
away your comforts and your privileges, to make you the better Christian?
why the Lord always trains His soldiers,
not by letting them lie on feather-beds, but by turning them out, and using
them to forced marches and hard service."
"God makes them ford through streams
and swim through rivers, and climb mountains, wa!k many a !ong marches
with heavy knapsacks of sorrow on their backs.
This is how He brings us the grace
and makes us grow. This is how He makes us conquerors.
Just as He sends the powerful winds,
to test the oak tree, He also, sends the storms to test us and make us
strong like the mighty-oak."
From: The Depths of Death Row James
F, Session #669
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