Friday, February 18, 2011

Post No. 132: For the Newest Upgrade of "Footprints in the Sand"


(Image from Quiet Earth)

Footprints in the Sand 3.0
[A "Footprints in the Sand" poem poetic adaptation]

One night, The Devil dreamt he was
watching the beach of life unfold before
A Child Of God and many scenes from This
Child's life flashed across the sky. In each
scene, The Devil noticed sets of footprints
in the sand. Sometimes, there were two
sets of footprints. And other times, there
was simply one set of footprints.

This bothered The Devil because he noticed
that during the lowest periods of his life,
whenever This Child Of God was suffering
from any anguish, sorrow, or defeat, The
Devil could see just one set of footprints.

So, The Devil said to This Child Of God,
"I told you, boy, that you must follow my
example and 'Accept The Devil As Your
Saviour'—so that you will choose my lying,
cheating, stealing and blaming ways—but
I have noticed that during the most trying
periods of your life there has been just
one set of footprints in the sand!"

"Why, why, why when you needed to be like
The Devil the most, have you not been lying
at every turn, cheating in order to get your
way, being totally selfish, showing no regard
for your fellow human beings and childishly
victim blaming as I would have done?"

And This Child Of God replied to The
Devil, "The times, boy, when you have
seen one set of footprints in the sand,
during the most trying periods of my
life, whenever I was suffering from any
anguish, sorrow, or defeat, is when
I was being carried by The Love Of God."

-Paul Whiting
(a.k.a., Small All White in the Forest)
"I am no barrier to it's sun the light and I are as one!"

My Poetic Notes:

The reason that I wrote this poem can be summed up with the following statement: Someday, I hope to be the next Walt Whitman, or Robert Frost, or Mary Stevenson! And I hope that my name will synonymous with some of my poems or, even, aspects of my poetic phrases...

...For example, the way the title "Footprints in the Sand" is associated with that poem, along with the stanza, "The Lord replied, 'The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.'"

And that is why I decided to write this poetic adaptation, or this "upgrade," so to speak, of the famous poem by Mary Stevenson in order to talk about the importance of looking to The Love Of God during troubled times in our lives!

So, that is why I poetically adapted that famous poem to talk about relying on The Love Of God during troubled times:

"And This Child Of God replied to The Devil, 'The times, boy, when you have seen one set of footprints in the sand, during the most trying periods of my life, whenever I was suffering from any anguish, sorrow, or defeat, is when I was being carried by The Love Of God.'"

And this poem was also published on my "Three Dark Horses" and "Paul Whiting — A Creative Writer" blogs (please see the hyperlinks below for the blogs), since I feel that the message in this poem applies to the message I am trying to convey through "Three Dark Horses" and "Paul Whiting — A Creative Writer." Plus, I feel that the message in this poem applies to the message I am trying to convey through my new "The Oneness Of God" spiritual practice!

This poem was written in Portland, Oregon.

-Paulee

https://threedarkhorses.blogspot.com

https://paulwhitingwriting.blogspot.com

This "Small All White in the Forest" Post No. 132 was edited on May 6th, 2024.

"Poetry is using the fewest words possible in order to describe all that is possible to describe." –Paul Whiting [June 1st, 2022]