Rhyme and Reason: A Collection of Poetry and Short Stories

By Elaine Beachy

There’s something about poetry that calls to the deepest part of the human soul. Thoughts such as wondering where God came from, developing a good self-image, struggling with family relationships, overcoming life’s experiences, nurturing spiritual health, caring about cultural issues, and more are subjects with which the reader will connect.
Rhyme and Reason is the collection of seventy of Elaine’s poetry written since 1978 and offered here for your enjoyment. She has also included some of her short stories near the end of the book that make for interesting reading, including a biblical fiction piece about Joseph and Mary, as well as a true story of a miraculous healing, and a piece of fiction titled “House of Cards.” Curl up with a cup of coffee or hot chocolate, and savor the experience.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jan 10, 2019
• ISBN: 9781973649328

Elaine Beachy

Elaine is a country girl who grew up on a dairy farm in western Pennsylvania with four brothers. She enjoys reading, writing, cooking, and baking, entertaining, and praying for others. Her favorite TV show is Home Town on HGTV. She is the author of six other books, of which the first three are a trilogy for children ages seven to eleven: Biff and Becka’s Springtime Escapades, Biff and Becka’s Stupendous Vacation, Biff and Becka’s Splendiferous Christmas. She also authored a cookbook, Elaine’s Kitchen: Made from Amish Stock, and a devotional titled Journal Gems: Nuggets from My Heart to Yours. A book of Elaine’s poetry and short stories is titled Rhyme and Reason. All her books are available on Amazon.com. Elaine has been married to her husband, Dave, for fifty-four years and lives in Manassas, Virginia. They have three children and four grandchildren and are active members of Living Faith Church.

Book preview

Copyright © 2019 Elaine Beachy.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Unless otherwise indicated, scripture is taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture marked NIV is taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-9736-4931-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-4930-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-4932-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018914938

WestBow Press rev. date: 01/08/2019

Contents

Preface

Paradise Lost

Reunion

For Now

 Agape Love

Self-Image

 America the Needy

Heartstrings

Wedding Day

 Tie-Breaker

Pain

 Estranged

Restored

Perspective

He’s Changing Me

 A Prayer Song

My Dearest Dad

 My Dearest Mom

 Silent Call

Darwin Jive

The Witness

Unborn

 We Weep

Legacy of Love

The Shaking of Nations

 The Picture

Alissa’s Day

 Women

 Diary of a Mad Housewife

Teen Years

Into Freedom

Watch and Pray

My People

 A Soul Set Free

Jesus Cried with Me

 True Love

 Peace and Plenty

 My Man

 The Teacher

 Perfect Love

Deliverance

To Jesus

 Snow

Talkin’ Turkey

 Mama’s House

 Nature’s Cue

Punctuation of Life

Family Ties

The Girl from Paradise

Talk Less, Pray More

What Is Love?

 Mama’s Hands

 Sisters

Against All Hope

Salt

 Closet Guest

To Live in Freedom

 Love Acts

Window Pain

Song of Victory

Believe

 Growing

 Victory Armor

 Be Still

Sweet Spring

 The Sluggard

Humility

Juggling

Virtuous Woman

 The Gift of Laughter

Yesterdays

SHORT STORIES

House of Cards

The Angel That Flied

Man of Honor

Ollie’s Legacy

A Touch of Eden

Dedication Page

Thanks to God my Father, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit for inspiration and the joy of writing. May Your kingdom come, and Your will be done on Earth, as it is in Heaven.

To my dear husband, Dave, whose love and encouragement means the world to me; to my beloved children, Douglas, Debra, and Darren, and to my grandchildren, Alissa, Nicole, Caleb, and Noelle;

To my mother, Elva, and the memory of my father Edwin;

To my brothers: Stanley, Sanford, Marlin, and George, their spouses and families;

Thank you for your love and support! You have all shaped my life for the better, in one way or another.

Thanks also to the editors and designers at WestBow Press for helping me get this book published.

Preface

There’s something about writing poetry that satisfies a creative sense in me. In 1993 I began to transfer all my scattered poetry into one book, so I wouldn’t lose it. I didn’t arrange them by date, but just wrote them down as I came across them. Sometimes the emotion of what I feel is best expressed in poetry rather than in prose. I hope you enjoy the variety of my poems.

                Some are free verse, others rhyme;

                Some were written at a time

                Of deep emotion in my mind.

                Some are happy, some are sad.

                Some make you think, some make you glad.

                Some are songs, or just for fun.

                Some are sermons in a poem.

                Some are short, some are long;

                Some bare my soul when I felt wrong.

                Please enjoy and pass this on!

Included in my collection of short stories is a piece of biblical fiction titled Man of Honor about what life could have been like for Joseph and Mary when she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. Joseph and Mary were real people, living in a community among family and friends. We tend to read the story in the Bible from a faraway perspective without imagining how things could very likely have been for them.

I didn’t realize until I had my manuscript done that I began my book with the free-verse poem Paradise Lost, and ended my book with a descriptive narrative titled A Touch of Eden. It’s like I came full circle and God tied my book with a bow.

Thank you for reading my collections, and may God bless you!

Paradise Lost

                        What spoiler of Eden

                        Still spoils today

                        As he did that day

                        Long ago?

                        From whence did evil spring?

                        What prompted pride—

                        That alien force in the heavenlies?

                        Sin was found in Lucifer

                        As he walked before his God.

                        What misery was wrought

                        In God’s beloved earth

                        As evil heart, in revenge,

                        Was set against God’s creation

                        By him who was cast

                        From heaven?

                        With hateful eye,

                        He viewed humankind,

                        Determined to wound

                        The heart of God

                        By enticing His creation

                        Into alliance against the truth.

                        Did God really say?¹

                        Is the arrow shot

                        At us today

                        As it was that day

                        Eden died.

Reunion

                        Close-knit to God

                        In cool of day,

                        Mankind once ruled with joy.

                        One hand out-stretched,

                        One simple act—

                        To pluck forbidden fruit—,

                        Once-glorious couple

                        Relinquished authority

                        Over earth

                        That day they fell. Then,

                        Earth’s ruthless master

                        Bound the once-free

                        Heart of mankind.

                        Cruel taskmaster, he;

                        Pitiless and diabolical!

                        Love and mercy wept

                        At painful estrangement

                        Between God and His beloved.

                        We hid our faces,

                        Unable to meet His gaze.

                        We did not understand

                        He’d set His love on us,

                        His arms reaching, aching,

                        Like a parent’s

                        Whose hostage child

                        Cannot come home.

                        So, God clothed Himself

                        In form as a man

                        And lived among us

                        For a time.

                        He, last Adam,

                        Refusing to yield