If I Could Only

O if I could only set in tune,
My mind to rhythm and heart to rhyme;
And I know it may not be too soon,
Before I reach the end of time.

If my selfish will could cease to wander,
And surrender all to His will supreme,
If I could always cause my heart to ponder,
On God's divine redemptive scheme.

My spirit cautions my feet to flee,
From passions that this world excites;
As my weary soul does beckon me,
To  deeper depth  and higher heights.

To tarry at my Master's feet,
And rest from Him humbly accept;
Till the glorious day I hope to meet,
My Risen Lord who paid my debt.

Eric Anthony Trott

6th September 2015

Pondering On Thoughts Of Life

How would you define destiny,
Should time and space cease to be?
And what does it mean to be free,
In the context of eternity?

O what vanity to juxtapose,
A fickle heart and seeking mind,
And thereupon to presuppose
That fate to folly shall be kind!

What truth is truth if relative,
With no standard absolute?
Is there the ultimate superlative,
Of knowledge that is resolute?

How fragile is faith should it  require,
Violence to guard it's gate?
And what sacrifice, what test by fire,
Does justice necessitate?

No seek I not to philosophize,
On complex global issues rife;
But merely just to summarize,
My pondering on thoughts of life.

Eric Anthony Trott

9th July 2015

How Will I Finish?

As I  ponder upon
The days bygone
And wonder what's yet to come,
I see each decision
That has shaped within
What I have and will become.

For though God's sovereign plan
Is far beyond man
In man's finite comprehension,
He gives us the choice
To hear His voice
Or reject His intervention.

So what would there be
In hindsight to see
Of all the years gone by:
Where neither pleasure nor
The much strived for
Accolades could satisfy?

But finishing well
Will leave a story to tell
To those that look for inspiration;
As they continue to grapple
With choice and with will
In this and every generation.

Eric Anthony Trott

31st January 2015

If I Could Be A Child Again

If I could only be a child again;

I think of all the things I’d do:

Tanned by the sun, playing in the rain,

In summer hols and on school days too.

Sneaking out to the pond in the afternoon,

Throwing skipping stones across the water;

Whistling to myself a silly tune,

Making faces at the neighbor’s daughter.

O if I could only be a child once more,

To climb that hill behind my house;

Come sliding down till my trousers tore

And return home to my mother's grouse.

I’d lie in bed gazing at the ceiling

Devising plans in my childish mind,

And fall asleep with the comforting feeling

That today’s cares are left behind.  

If I could once more be a child,

I’d promise to obey the golden rule:

I’d be good, yea much less wild,

And a lot kinder to some friends at school.

But I wouldn't trade for any treasure

The thrill of childish prankishness,

And the innocence of childish pleasure

In what grownups may call foolishness.

Eric Anthony Trott

17th September 2014

Paradoxical Irony

If the pursuit of pleasure be the cause of pain,

And having much we still complain,

And living for success we die in vain;

Then what does being, still profit?

When all that’s lost can’t be restored,

The cost of life death can’t afford,

And the beginning is the end of the road,

What do we have to forfeit?

But amidst the gloom hope still exists,

For the weary soul who still persists,

As temptation to yield his will resists,

And he presses on some more:

For at the end of darkness there will be light,

And there’s a reward for every well fought fight,

What’s sown in tears will be reaped in delight,

When he stands on that distant shore.

Eric A Trott

26^th August 2014

Beyond the Physical

From the moment of birth when life’s unfurled,
Until as old as we have grown,
It is by our physical bodies we know the world;
And it is by our bodies that we are known.

We start to hear the sounds of life
Even when still in our mother’s womb,
And are familiar with all its joys and strife
Till laid to rest in the cold hard tomb.

To smell the fragrance of the breeze;
How invigorating is the air so fresh:
To behold the beauty of the trees;
How amazing we can in mortal flesh!

To feel the warmth of a loved one’s touch
And know the comfort of being in love.
O the taste of victuals that are relished much:
Is this mere material or something above?
Alas, the constraints of an earthly body
That does restrain our urge to fly!
And the journey from euphoria to feeling shoddy
As time and tide does pass us by!

A life of anticipation and hope from birth
That looks forward to what is to come,
How could it end buried beneath the earth
Where speech is silenced and senses numb?

Nay, God has put into the heart of man
The knowledge of eternity;
Not without a much greater plan
That’s beyond plain physical entity:

While we have bodies, we are souls
That were created to live eternally;
Heaven bound with earthly goals
Of being fruitful implicitly.

But sin has separated us from God’s will
And the knowledge of His Divine Purpose:
And he that comes to steal and kill
Does all he can to destroy us.

But Jesus came to seek and save
Mankind He created that was lost;
That they might have the hope He gave
For which on the Cross He paid the cost.

The choice is ours to remain enslaved
To the one who would have us lost forever,
Or believe and be saved
By the One who is the Only Savior.

Yea, Jesus came a life to give
That we may have abundantly;
He died and rose that we might live
Not in the flesh but spiritually.

Eric Anthony Trott

July 15, 2013

I Thank God For My Wife!

I thank God for giving me

The woman who is my wife;

And for her love for me

Which so wonderfully blessed my life. 

God said, looking at His son, 

"It's not good that he's alone:

So I'll give him a companion;

A woman he can call his own”. 

So He brought this wonderful lady

To me to be my bride;

And from that blessed, beautiful day

She has remained by my side.

I never could have understood

How God a man can bless,

Had I not known the woman

Who brought such happiness!

Yes, God has blessed me so much

By giving me His beautiful daughter,

Who stepped into my lonely life

And changed my sadness to laughter.

She has changed so many things

That I thought could never change,

With her ever loving, caring ways

That so beautifully rearrange.

Well she changed my untidiness

And helped me realize,

The benefit of discipline

And learning to organize.

I used to be hot tempered

And would easily lose my head;

But she taught me to say sorry

Before I went to bed.

She has been just wonderful

As a wife and friend to me;

And such an amazing mother

To our children – we have three!

Each passing day brings love so sweet

And many a new surprise;

And to describe what she means to me

Words would not suffice:

So I ask God for the grace for me

To be the husband she deserves,

And pray that as we grow in years

Our love He preserves.

Yes, I know I’ll always love her

For all the days of my life:

And I thank God for giving me

The woman who is my wife.

Eric Anthony Trott                                                                                                                                            

17^th Januay, 2013

This is a poem I composed for Doris, who has been my Darling Wife for 19 years now and it was for her birthday which is on the 18^th of January.

A wife of noble character who can find?  She is worth far more than rubies. Proverbs 31:10 

Lord Make Me A Blessing

Lord teach me to know to help
So that I may help someone know;
Help me to love the unloved
Like I've never done before.

Show me what compassion is
Let my concern be real;
And help me to empathise
With the pain people feel.

Burden me with what burdens your heart
And help me to carry
The burdens of others
As at Your feet I tarry.

Enable me to bless someone
In some way today:
Lord make me a blessing
In Christ's Name I pray.

Eric Anthony Trott

19th March 2013

God's Strength and my Weakness

When my strength is too weak
And my weakness too strong,
It is Jesus whom I seek
And for Him that I long.

When my weakness is too strong
And my strength is too weak,
His deliverance is my song
And of His power I will speak.

For when in my strength I boast
And in my flesh I trust,
I am overwhelmed the most
Until confess I must;

That I can do nothing
When I do it on my own,
But I can do everything
When I trust Him alone.

I pray that in my weakness
He would perfect His strength,
And I would trust Him in meekness
Through all of life's length:

So that to Him be all glory
And all joy may be mine,
And my life be a story
Of His power divine.

Eric Anthony Trott

4th March, 2013

From Darkness to The Light

Hurtling down on hell’s highway,

On the road that leads to destruction:

With stubborn will to go my way,

And a heart overcome by frustration:

What lay ahead I did not know,

But believed I had to get somewhere:

My deepest fears I would not show,

For pride forbade me my soul to bare.

Darkness surrounded my every plan;

Till no way out was in sight:

Still faster on in haste I ran

In courseless, dismal, futile flight.

Until at last worn out I stumbled,

And fell before the Mighty Rock:

Broken, contrite, entirely humbled;

It was there I heard my Savior knock.

He asked if He could give me life,

A life purchased by His Blood Divine;

In exchange for my sin and strife,

And the selfish nature that was mine.

To my shame I realized my state;

What a miserable wretch was I:

I knew tomorrow would be too late

Should today pass me by.

Then I looked and there before me lay,

My entire existence in a thousand pieces;

So I gave them all to My Lord that day,

That He may do with them as He pleases:

Those broken pieces, He took them all,

And He gave me back a brand new heart;

And the day I responded to His call,

Was the day I got a brand new start.

I was hopeless, sinful and lost,

Wallowing in my sorrowful plight;

But Jesus paid a precious cost

That I could become a child of Light.

No sorrow now could ever dim

The joy that I have come to gain;

Now the life I live I live in Him

Because Jesus died and rose again.

Words can’t express the gratitude

I feel for all He did for me;

As I press on in His Spirit’s fortitude

Until my Savior’s face I see.

Eric Anthony Trott

9^th January 2013