Your Place

Is your place a small place?
    Tend it with care!--
                He set you there.

Is your place a large place?
    Guard it with care!--
                He set you there.

Whatever your place, it is
    Not yours alone, but His
                Who set you there.

William Arthur Dunkerley (John Oxenham)

William Arthur Dunkerley (John Oxenham)

William Arthur Dunkerley, better known by his pen name John Oxenham, was an English journalist, novelist, and poet. He was a prolific writer in the early 20th century, producing a wide range of literary works including poetry, hymns, and novels. His works often reflected Christian themes and were popular during his time. Dunkerley also contributed to the establishment of the Boys' Brigade, a notable youth organization in the UK. His legacy includes a significant contribution to both literature and social causes.

William Arthur Dunkerley (John Oxenham)

English

Suggested Poems

Explore a curated selection of verses that share themes, styles, and emotional resonance with the poem you've just read.

The Inn Of Life

As It was in the Beginning,--
Is Now,--
And...?

Anno Domini I.

    *            *            *            *            *

"No room!
No room!
The Inn is full,
Yea--overfull.
No room have we
for such as ye--
Poor folk of Galilee,
Pass on! Pass on!"

"Nay then!--
Your charity
Will ne'er deny
Some corner mean,
Where she may lie unseen.
For see!--
Her time is nigh."

"Alack! And she
So young and fair!
Place have we none;
And yet--how bid ye gone?
Stay then!--out there
Among the beasts
Ye may find room,
And eke a truss
To lie upon."


Anno Domini 1913, etc., etc.

    *            *            *            *            *

"No room!<...

William Arthur Dunkerley (John Oxenham)

Treasure-Trove

Lord Christ, let me but hold Thy hand
And all the rest may go.
For nothing is, but only seems,
And life is full of idle dreams,
        Until Thyself we know.

The whole wide world is nought beside
The wonder of Thy love.
And though my state be mean and strait,
Give me but heart to work and wait,
        And I have Treasure-Trove.

William Arthur Dunkerley (John Oxenham)

In Narrow Ways

Some lives are set in narrow ways,
By Love's wise tenderness.
They seem to suffer all their days
Life's direst storm and stress.
But God shall raise them up at length,
His purposes are sure,
He for their weakness shall give strength,
For every ill a cure.

William Arthur Dunkerley (John Oxenham)

Home

“Where shall we dwell?” say you.
Wandering winds reply:
“In a temple with roof of blue
Under the splendid sky.”

Never a nobler home
We’ll find though an age we try
Than is arched by the azure dome
Of the all-enfolding sky.

Here we are wed, and here
We live under God’s own eye.
“Where shall we dwell,” my dear?
Under the splendid sky.

John Le Gay Brereton

God's Dwelling.

God's said to dwell there, wheresoever He
Puts down some prints of His high Majesty;
As when to man He comes, and there doth place
His Holy Spirit, or doth plant His Grace.

Robert Herrick

Philosopher's Garden

"See this my garden,
    Large and fair!"
--Thus, to his friend,
The Philosopher.

"'Tis not too long,"
His friend replied,
With truth exact,--
"Nor yet too wide.
But well compact,
If somewhat cramped
On every side."

Quick the reply--
"But see how high!--
It reaches up
To God's blue sky!"

Not by their size
Measure we men
Or things.
Wisdom, with eyes
Washed in the fire,
Seeketh the things
That are higher--
Things that have wings,
Thoughts that aspire.

William Arthur Dunkerley (John Oxenham)