A Gift and a Tree

A Selection From Ruth Bell Graham's Writing

December 1, 2011

by Ruth Bell Graham

There will be less someday—
much less,
and there will be More:
less to distract
and amuse;
More, to adore;
less to burden
and confuse;
More, to undo
the cluttering of centuries,
that we might view
again, That which star
and angels
pointed to;
we shall be poorer—
and richer;
stripped—and free:
for always there will be a Gift,
always
a Tree!

Taken by permission from “Ruth Bell Graham’s Collected Poems,” ©1977, 1992, 1997 The Ruth Graham Literary Trust.