The Wall With a Window

In a certain sullen wall
That shuts the spacious world from view
Chance—or miracle—has made
A space for looking through:

A little blessed window space
Through which imprisoned eyes may see
An upward-going leafy road,
A tiny flowering tree;

And, growing close and pressing inward
Through the window in the wall,
Sprays of blossoms shaped to music,
White and sweet and small.

In whatever wall surround us,
Stubborn walls of grief or pain,
Barred by gates that will not open
While our lives remain,

God’s love is a window, showing
Us a wide and leafy land
And his mercy, bell-like, blossoms,
Sweetly close at hand.

1958, published in magazine (Saturday Evening Post?)
-republished in Blessed Are You