I Have an Appointment with God
I have an appointment with God:
And whatever is missed that has to be kept:
And though all was missed—the very globe itself, the skies: though that was missed:
Though all love was missed—and my neighbors and family and success were missed: though they were all missed:
I must be on the right spot at the time fixed for me: must be there body and soul:
In day or night, in sunshine or storm, in life or death, I must be there:
To take up my note with God in person: (no emissary could assume my place):
I must be there eye to eye with God to redeem the sacred obligation:
In cruelty or blight, in mercy or fertility, I must be there without fail:
The whole universe, God, on the one side, and I, a single man on a minor star, on the other side:
On the day long ago set appearing without forfeit: God appearing with me: to settle our little account
I have an appointment with God and will keep it: I will be on the spot at the time fixed: my body, my soul, will be there:
But just as much God has an appointment with me and God will not default:
For somehow the beautiful contract wont work unless both are faithful,
And it would be no disgrace to God to be as loyal to me as I am expected to be to God:
The debt must be paid both ways until no balance is left on either side:
The debt of God to me so vast accruing and my debt to God piled up in mountainous eras of time:
I have an appointment: I will keep it: I will pay:
And that which I pay will be receipted for with more life until I am poured full and satisfied.
Nothing else matters: only God matters and I matter:
The other things may result as they will: they do not matter:
But I by my truce must round up in God and God by God's truce must round up in me:
This matters much—this matters all: that this should come out right:
If God went astray looking for me or I went astray looking for God: that would matter all:
It would be as if the earth went astray looking for the sun or the sun went astray looking for the earth:
It belongs to God to be as extra careful about me as for me to be extra careful about God,
So that what was so wonderfully arranged for far back should come out just as was intended:
The fates across the farthest stretches of the years handing me to God just as I should be:
That matters much—matters all: that no item of this inheritance should be ignored:
I meeting God perfectly equipped and worthy of God forever:
God meeting me perfectly equipped and worthy of me forever.
I have an appointment with God: I dont mean to dodge or postpone it:
It is not way off somewhere in time and the skies: no; it is today and right here:
I did not make the appointment—it was made for me ages before I was born:
I see what it commits me to: I stand by it: the pledge taken for me I will keep:
They knew very well what I would come to: the fathers of my fathers—they knew very well:
When they signed my name for me they signed my heart: they knew the divine quality of their act: they left nothing to be added:
They looked on and on: they foresaw me on expanding horizons: I was to them the same as already here:
Then they waited: they passed from the byways of the flesh: they turned into the common road:
Long after I appeared: O revered countless fathers!—appeared to make good for you.
What will I bring God to pay off my debt with?
I must be mighty careful that I bring the right stuff or I'll be sent back shamed and dishonored:
I must bring God genuine stuff or God can make no use of what I offer to pay:
I must bring God love or the purport of love and nothing short of it: I must: I must:
I must bring justice or the purport of justice: must bring cheer or the purport of cheer:
Without this all I bring or anyone brings would be laughed at and rejected:
All the show and the wrong and the pride of the rich over the poor would be rejected:
All the traitorous arts, all the deserting cultures, would be rejected:
Nothing will do, nothing will count, but love and the purport of love:
From judges, statesmen, poets, workmen, anybody—nothing but love and the purport of love:
It would be hopeless to bring anything but love or the purport of love—oh, so hopeless!—and expect to get through.
I have an appointment with God: and whatever is missed that must be kept:
I have a debt to settle with God: and whatever is paid crooked that must be paid straight:
I have made a contract with God: and whatever matters nothing that matters all:
I stand to the agreement: I dont ask to be let off: nor does God: we are on good terms with each other:
And love alone will pay: will pay from me to God: will pay from God to me:
Nothing less than love will pay: I must pay with love: and God must pay:
(Oh, I feel full of God's love even now: I wonder if God has not already overpaid?):
Not the love lovers talk about: no: the love lovers live: that love alone:
There may be other ways: I see only love: and God—what does God see?
The hour strikes (O God, I am here!): I have an appointment with God.
And whatever is missed that has to be kept:
And though all was missed—the very globe itself, the skies: though that was missed:
Though all love was missed—and my neighbors and family and success were missed: though they were all missed:
I must be on the right spot at the time fixed for me: must be there body and soul:
In day or night, in sunshine or storm, in life or death, I must be there:
To take up my note with God in person: (no emissary could assume my place):
I must be there eye to eye with God to redeem the sacred obligation:
In cruelty or blight, in mercy or fertility, I must be there without fail:
The whole universe, God, on the one side, and I, a single man on a minor star, on the other side:
On the day long ago set appearing without forfeit: God appearing with me: to settle our little account
I have an appointment with God and will keep it: I will be on the spot at the time fixed: my body, my soul, will be there:
But just as much God has an appointment with me and God will not default:
For somehow the beautiful contract wont work unless both are faithful,
And it would be no disgrace to God to be as loyal to me as I am expected to be to God:
The debt must be paid both ways until no balance is left on either side:
The debt of God to me so vast accruing and my debt to God piled up in mountainous eras of time:
I have an appointment: I will keep it: I will pay:
And that which I pay will be receipted for with more life until I am poured full and satisfied.
Nothing else matters: only God matters and I matter:
The other things may result as they will: they do not matter:
But I by my truce must round up in God and God by God's truce must round up in me:
This matters much—this matters all: that this should come out right:
If God went astray looking for me or I went astray looking for God: that would matter all:
It would be as if the earth went astray looking for the sun or the sun went astray looking for the earth:
It belongs to God to be as extra careful about me as for me to be extra careful about God,
So that what was so wonderfully arranged for far back should come out just as was intended:
The fates across the farthest stretches of the years handing me to God just as I should be:
That matters much—matters all: that no item of this inheritance should be ignored:
I meeting God perfectly equipped and worthy of God forever:
God meeting me perfectly equipped and worthy of me forever.
I have an appointment with God: I dont mean to dodge or postpone it:
It is not way off somewhere in time and the skies: no; it is today and right here:
I did not make the appointment—it was made for me ages before I was born:
I see what it commits me to: I stand by it: the pledge taken for me I will keep:
They knew very well what I would come to: the fathers of my fathers—they knew very well:
When they signed my name for me they signed my heart: they knew the divine quality of their act: they left nothing to be added:
They looked on and on: they foresaw me on expanding horizons: I was to them the same as already here:
Then they waited: they passed from the byways of the flesh: they turned into the common road:
Long after I appeared: O revered countless fathers!—appeared to make good for you.
What will I bring God to pay off my debt with?
I must be mighty careful that I bring the right stuff or I'll be sent back shamed and dishonored:
I must bring God genuine stuff or God can make no use of what I offer to pay:
I must bring God love or the purport of love and nothing short of it: I must: I must:
I must bring justice or the purport of justice: must bring cheer or the purport of cheer:
Without this all I bring or anyone brings would be laughed at and rejected:
All the show and the wrong and the pride of the rich over the poor would be rejected:
All the traitorous arts, all the deserting cultures, would be rejected:
Nothing will do, nothing will count, but love and the purport of love:
From judges, statesmen, poets, workmen, anybody—nothing but love and the purport of love:
It would be hopeless to bring anything but love or the purport of love—oh, so hopeless!—and expect to get through.
I have an appointment with God: and whatever is missed that must be kept:
I have a debt to settle with God: and whatever is paid crooked that must be paid straight:
I have made a contract with God: and whatever matters nothing that matters all:
I stand to the agreement: I dont ask to be let off: nor does God: we are on good terms with each other:
And love alone will pay: will pay from me to God: will pay from God to me:
Nothing less than love will pay: I must pay with love: and God must pay:
(Oh, I feel full of God's love even now: I wonder if God has not already overpaid?):
Not the love lovers talk about: no: the love lovers live: that love alone:
There may be other ways: I see only love: and God—what does God see?
The hour strikes (O God, I am here!): I have an appointment with God.
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