Appendices

Appendices

Included here are several poems and articles that have caught my attention over the years. The two poems, Looking for the Sunrise and Treasure Up in Heaven, and the article A Traveller’s Guide to Heaven, I have had in my collection for many years and do not know where they first appeared in print. They are worth passing on to the next generation, but I hope I am not infringing any copyright in doing so. The poem Looking for the Sunrise I have often used at funerals in my role as an Anglican pastor, and sometimes get asked for copies.

The King and the Fool appeared over sixty years ago in a small booklet titled The Traveller’s Guide from Death to Life which contained illustrations of the gospel compiled by Mrs Stephen Menzies and published by the British Gospel Book Association.

Looking for the Sunrise

I’m not looking for the sunset,
As the swift years come and go;
I am looking for the sunrise,
And the golden morning glow,
Where the light of heaven’s glory
Will break forth upon my sight,
In the land that knows no sunset,
Nor the darkness of the night.

 I’m not going down the pathway
Toward the setting of the sun,
Where the shadows ever deepen
 When the day at last is done;
I  am walking up the hillside
Where the sunshine lights the way,
To the glory of the sunrise
Of God’s never-ending day.

 I’m not going down, but upward,
And the path is never dim,
For the day grows ever brighter
As I journey on with Him.
So my eyes are on the hilltops,
Waiting for the sun to rise,
Waiting for His invitation
To the home beyond the skies.

 Albert Simpson Reitz, June 1953

 Treasure Up in Heaven

You tell me I am getting old, but that’s not really so.
The house I live in may be worn, and that of course I know.
It’s been in use for quite a while, weathered by wind and hail.
I’m therefore not surprised to find it’s getting somewhat frail!

 You tell me I am getting old, you mix the house with me.
You're looking at the outside, that’s all that you can see.
The dweller in this shaky house is young and bright and free;
Just starting on a life that lasts for all eternity.

 The colour’s changing on the roof, the window’s looking dim,
The wall’s a bit transparent and is getting rather thin.
The foundation’s not as steady, as once it used to be;
But that is all that you observe, and really that’s not me!

 I patch the old house up a bit, to make it last the night,
But soon I shall be leaving for my home of endless light:
I’m going to live forever there, for life goes on—it’s grand!
How can you say I’m getting old? You do not understand!

 These few short years can’t make me old. I feel I’m in my youth:
Eternal life is mine right now, and thats the solid truth!
I will not fret to see this house grow shabby day by day,
But look ahead to my New Home which never will decay.

 I want to be found worthy for my Father’s house above;
Cleansed in the precious Blood of Christ and growing still in love.
The beauty of that glorious home no words can ever say.
‘Tis hidden from these mortal eyes, but kept for me some day.

 My house is getting ready in a place beyond the sky.
Its Architect and Builder is my Saviour now on high:
But He’s told me that He’s leaving all the furnishing to me,
So it’s ‘treasure up in heaven’ that I’m storing—don’t you see?

 Mr L. A. T. Van Dooran