Words of Light and Hope from Fran Neale AWA

Words of Light and Hope
28 th January 2024
Fran Neale AWA

The following is a verse from a book of songs we had at home – I don’t know who wrote it, but I like it.

“A smile is a funny thing, it wrinkles up your face,

But when it’s gone, you’ll never find

Its secret hiding place.

But far more wonderful are the things a smile can do:

You look at one, they smile back

And so one smile makes two.”

Another poem from my Grandmother (Nana)’s collection of prayers and poems is called “To a friend”. When I Googled it I found it is by A.S. Wilson and there is a paragraph about it. Not enough space to quote here, but worth looking up.

“Not merely in the words you say

Not only in your deeds confessed

But in the most unconscious way

Is Christ expressed.

Is it a beatific smile?

A holy light upon your brow?

Oh! no, I felt His Presence while

You laughed just now.

For me ’twas not the truth you taught

To you so dear, to me still dim,

And when you came you brought

A sense if Him.

And from your life He beckons me

And from your heart his love is shed

Till I lose sight of you and see

The Christ instead.”