ANOTHER TESTAMENT
Nephi’s hand by God was guided:
records kept for latter days--
testaments, that generations
might know Christ and sing His praise.
Sharon Nauta Steele
December 27, 2011
NEPHI: LOOKING FORWARD
For a wise intent,
I proffer these plates of brass:
Meat for hungry souls.
Sharon Nauta Steele
March 25, 2012
NEPHI: MY FATHER’S PRAYER
As there were many prophets
in those days
who called upon the people
to repent their wicked ways,
my father bowed himself
in earnest prayer.
So great his care for old Jerusalem,
he felt a need for guidance
from the Lord. And as he knelt
to reverently inquire,
his answer came--a vision
in a pillar of white fire.
Sharon Nauta Steele
February 23, 2012
LEHI: ON SEEING THE HEAVENS OPEN
I saw the Father sitting on his throne--
not alone, but flanked by multitudes
of angels singing praise.
So like the sun’s bright rays,
One then descended from
among those in the mist,
accompanied by twelve others,
brothers in their star-like radiance.
The first held out a book,
commanding I should read
and know the imminence
of fair Jerusalem’s demise.
So many wise and fearful things
were thus revealed to me,
my heart was heavy.
Yet, I did rejoice
to understand the Lord
was giving me a choice:
He would be merciful
and turn his heart
to all who did repent
and choose His part.
Sharon Nauta Steele
April 8, 2012
LEHI CHASTENS HIS PEOPLE
Oh, dear friends and kinsmen,
we must hearken to the Lord
to save ourselves from dying
by iniquity’s swift sword.
Without God’s intervention,
our fair city will be gone
and those who have not perished
carried off to Babylon.
It breaks my heart to think
of what must surely come to be
if we don’t turn away from sin
and live more righteously.
Sharon Nauta Steele
March 9, 2012
LEHI GRIEVES FOR JERUSALEM
I cast myself upon my bed,
to mourn my city’s fate.
I prayed my people would repent
before it grew too late.
But, no, their anger was aroused--
self-righteous in their sin,
they turned their backs upon the Lord
and would not let him in.
Sharon Nauta Steele
March 2, 2012
NEPHI: FLIGHT
My father Lehi,
valiant in belief,
led us away from danger
when our city’s fate
was sealed.
For God revealed
to him at length
Jerusalem’s sure fall.
We heard his call
and fled with him
outside the city wall.
Sharon Nauta Steele
January 28, 2012
ESCAPE
We left our silver and our gold,
our precious things, our home,
and our inheritance.
Then taking nothing more
than such provisions
as our tents and tools and food
and seeds sufficient for our needs
into that rude and primal wilderness,
we wandered on the borders
of a distant Red Sea shore.
In faith we journeyed three full days
on unfamiliar, foreign sod,
until we stopped to raise an altar,
stacking slabs of native stone
to offer glad Thanksgiving
to our kind, omniscient God.
Sharon Nauta Steele
March 24, 2012
SARIAH’S TESTIMONY
Following the father of my children,
the confirmation of his visions
strong within my soul, I gathered
small provisions
from our wealth of worldly things--
nothing more, but nothing less
than bare essentials.
Necessity required thrift,
with only so much
we could lift and carry
on our journey led by God.
But as we trod in wilderness
so many weary miles,
subsistent on such meager ration,
our burdened beings
gathered strength
through constant tribulation.
Sharon Nauta Steele
January 8, 2012
NEPHI PITCHES HIS TENT
I pitch my tent,
door facing morning sun,
for daybreak glimpses of the eastern sky.
I don’t know why it means so much
to wake up early, gazing on the pristine rays
of desert dawn
and feel their warm touch,
except that seeing morning light
helps me forget the depths of night--
when in my family’s hasty journey into wilderness,
my brothers, at least two of them,
looked backwards ever mourning
our fair city of Jerusalem.
Sharon Nauta Steele
2011
LAMAN AND LEMUEL REBEL
Our father dodders as he ages,
hearing voices,
claiming he communicates
with God,
condemning all Jerusalem
to bondage if they don’t repent.
He thinks his message Heaven sent
compelling us to flee—to leave
our wealth and friends behind
and traverse in the wilderness.
We must obey—
He is our patriarch,
but as we go, we do confess,
our thoughts
are ever sinister
and dark.
Sharon Nauta Steele
January 8, 2012
LEHI: DISAPPOINTMENT
Far worse than old Jerusalem’s
dark heart of stone,
the scoffing of my eldest sons,
their cold derision.
They were the ones
who should have known
their father’s words were true--
that I could have a vision.
Sharon Nauta Steele
January 7, 2012
FRICTION
A Poem for Two Voices
Nephi
Why are your minds unsure?
Have you not prayed for light?
And what of God’s command?
I fear your hearts are stone!
Please listen for the spirit…
For you, I agonize.
|
His Older Brothers
God’s message is obscure.
We prosper in the night--
‘We don’t want to understand.
Our choices are our own.
We don’t care to hear it.
You think you are so wise.
|
Sharon Nauta Steele
February 4, 2012
NEPHI COMMUNES WITH SAM
My brother Sam,
who knew no guile,
no haughtiness,
or worldly pride,
believed with open heart
the truth of which
I testified.
Sharon Nauta Steele
March 24, 2012
NEPHI: CONCILIATION
And my father spoke
with strength until my brothers
heard and acquiesced.
Sharon Nauta Steele
March 24, 2012
LEHI: ON NAMING THE TOPOGRAPHY FOR SONS
Laman:
Oh, that you could be
like this crystal river,
flowing strong and true--
a fountain of morality
cascading clean and pure.
Lemuel:
Oh, that you could be
like this fertile valley,
strong in all you do--
a basin for integrity,
so stalwart evermore.
Sharon Nauta Steele
March 17, 2012
LEHI: ON SENDING HIS SONS BACK TO GET THE BRASS PLATES
After we had left our home,
God told me of the records--
that my sons should journey back,
to claim them for posterity,
lest our descendants,
perish without scriptures,
in the wilderness and ignorance
of their iniquity.
Sharon Nauta Steele
January 23, 2012
SARIAH COMPLAINS
As a mother will, I worried
for the safety of my sons
and questioned Lehi’s common sense
in sending them on such a quest.
For days, I couldn’t rest or still
the quaking of my heart
and found myself imagining
the worst scenario.
I even cursed my husband
for commanding them to go.
Sharon Nauta Steele
April 21, 2012
LEHI REPLIES
I know I am
a visionary man,
for I have seen the goodness
and the wisdom
of God’s plan
Sharon Nauta Steele
April 21, 2012
NEPHI RESPONDS
If God, in wisdom,
commends us to go forward,
He will guide our feet.
Sharon Nauta Steele
January 23, 2012
LAMAN AND LEMUEL ON THEIR MISSION
Our father is a dreamer without sense
to send us back for plates of brass
into fierce Laban’s hands—
he who commands
huge concourses
of strong-armed fighting men.
Not just ten, or even fifty,
but some thousands
with their gleaming swords
and shields and arrowed bows.
Such power that man wields.
We’ll surely fail…
Yet Nephi says
he knows we will prevail.
Sharon Nauta Steele
January 12, 2012
INSPIRED
Not knowing
of the things
I would
be called upon
to do,
I left the two,
my brothers,
outside the city gate.
And, after they
concealed themselves,
I crept toward
the house of Laban
and did wait…
Sharon Nauta Steele
April 5, 2012
LABAN IS DELIVERED
Though wicked Laban,
drunk with purple wine,
was by God’s
omniscient design
delivered to my hand,
unconscious at my feet,
I shrunk from taking up
his gilded sword
and killing him.
I was unwilling,
filled with hesitations,
to perform the bloody deed,
until my Lord
showed me the need
to take one wicked life
and save the souls
of future teeming nations.
Sharon Nauta Steele
April 5, 2012
FULFILLMENT
A Poem for Two Voices
Nephi
I dressed in Laban’s clothes
and spoke like him.
The servant Zoram heard.
And he believing me his master
obeyed my strange command--
handed me the plates of brass.
Too late he realized his error.
I felt compassion for his plight.
|
Zoram
Still sleepy I arose.
His words were bold, though dim,
his speech with liquor slurred.
My jumbled thoughts ran faster--
I tried to understand…
And so it came to pass,
I knew an overwhelming terror
and fled with him into the night.
|
Sharon Nauta Steele
April 5, 2012
ZORAM FOLLOWS
And Zoram, Laban’s
servant chose to come away--
joining us in flight.
Sharon Nauta Steele
April 5, 2012
SARIAH REPENTS
I thought my sons had perished
as they bartered for the plates of brass.
Oh, how I mourned their sure demise,
complaining to my husband,
telling him it was unwise
to send them off on such a task--
so great the risk, too much to ask!
The older two had gone unwillingly,
but Nephi went in faith
that what was bidden by our God
would come to pass…
And when at length they did return,
traversing desert sands,
the records of our fathers
safe in stalwart Nephi’s hands,
I felt rekindled testimony burn--
my heart was glad, my joy was full,
my trust in Lehi’s vision was restored.
And I knelt to plead forgiveness
of my husband
and my Lord.
Sharon Nauta Steele
January 21, 2012
ISHMAEL OBEYS
God hears Ishmael’s prayer
and grants him faith
to heed the prophet’s call--
to change his circumstance in life
without the city wall.
His daughters strong and fair,
he gives Lehi’s sons to wife
and tarries in a wild land
obedient, subservient,
obeying God’s command.
Sharon Nauta Steele
February 12, 2012
LEHI’S DREAM
I dreamed a vision
of dark mists
and filthy waters surging
to engulf me on my way.
But, in the haze,
a single ray of hope
sustained my pace,
while mocking voices
spoke derision and disgrace.
And though they gestured
lewdly in disdain,
their words lascivious,
and profane,
I did walk steady
holding to the iron rod—
my providence, the tree of life
my destination, God.
Sharon Nauta Steele
March 17, 2012
VOICES FROM LEHI’S DREAM
A Poem for Two Voices
Press forward to the tree of life.
Stay on the paths of righteousness.
Press forward, leaning to the Lord.
Hold tightly to the iron rod.
Let goodness be your strength and staff.
Reach up and take the precious fruit.
Drink in Eternity’s pure light.
|
Why put yourself to so much strive?
Why put yourself to so much stress?
Fall back and join the wicked horde.
Let pleasure be your only God.
Choose virtue now and hear us laugh.
Tear out the tree and burn the root.
Drown in a black and stormy night.
|
Sharon Nauta Steele
March 2011
NEPHI PRAYS TO UNDERSTAND LEHI’S DREAM
Although my older brothers
mocked our father
in derision,
I chose to pause
and ponder on the symbols
of his vision.
I prayed for
understanding,
though I was
but a youth,
that I might
stand with Father
as a witness to the truth.
Sharon Nauta Steele
January 14, 2012
PARABLE
Like olive branches
grafted onto wild roots,
let us bear good fruit.
Like new starts rooted
in distant places, may we
grow into strong trees.
Like good seed scattered
with a caring hand, let us
root in fertile ground.
Sharon Nauta Steele
April 3, 2012
ULTIMATUM
But if such graftings
bring forth bitter, wild fruit,
burn the tree,
destroy the root.
Sharon Nauta Steele
April 5, 2012
NEPHI PROPHECIES
As the gentiles hearken
unto the shepherd’s call,
they shall be gathered home
and numbered in his flock.
Sharon Nauta Steele
August 25, 2012
LIAHONA
By faith this compass
guides us to the Promised Land.
We’ve but to follow.
Sharon Nauta Steele
February 12, 2012
NEPHI: BROKEN BOW
While hunting game
along the borders
of the Red Sea,
I broke my bow.
My head hung low
as I returned without
provisions to sustain
my family’s hungry need
and heard them murmur
cursing me,
but even worse
profaning deity.
Sharon Nauta Steele
August 5, 2012
LAMON AND LEMUEL: REVOLT
And we thought we saw an angel
Pfft! Our father’s foolishness
is rubbing off on us
to let our younger brother have his say
and succumb to his charms--
ambitious tongue from one so young.
We rue that day and bind his arms.
Sharon Nauta Steele
January 28, 2012
LEHI’S LAMENT
The days of my life
are as the autumn leaves…
Oh, how it grieves my soul
to think this life might pass
with children’s faces hardened
in discord.
How long we’ve trod
this pathway, led by God…
And yet, these wayward sons
are loathe to understand
the sweet and tender mercies,
of the Lord.
Sharon Nauta Steele
February 12, 2012
LEHI’S PLEA
Arise my sons--
lift up your eyes,
let your hearts warm,
grow humble, wise.
Put off the cloak
of unbelief--
be gentled, sons,
assuage my grief.
Awake my sons--
before I’m gone,
grasp God’s strong hand.
And then hold on.
Sharon Nauta Steele
February 12, 2012
NOMADS ON THE RUN
Through adversity we waded,
nomads on the run,
our women bearing children
in the wild.
So many years we wandered
towards the rising sun,
trusting in our Father
to provide.
Sharon Nauta Steele
April 28, 2012
PROVISION
God cautions us against the use of fire—
lest we draw attention to ourselves?
Or set the dryness of the land aflame?
'T is all the same:
We need not cook before we eat;
He makes our food, like manna, sweet.
Sharon Nauta Steele
April 7, 2012
STRENGTHENED
Eight long years
we journeyed in the wild--
man, woman, child,
laden in our passage east,
each day so long.
And yet, we met
our trials with a song.
Keeping the commandments
we grew strong.
Sharon Nauta Steele
June 3, 2012
NEPHI ON THE MOUNT
And after we had sojourned
in the land of Bountiful
for many days,
I heard God speak.
That urgent beckoning
bid me ascend
a looming mountain peak.
And there above
our clustered tents
in pristine mountain air,
I bowed my head
to seek His will
through fervent,
heartful prayer.
Sharon Nauta Steele
April 14, 2012
NEPHI: CALLED TO BUILD A SHIP
When God commanded me
to build a ship,
I was astounded.
Unfounded in the art
of fabricating watercraft,
I might have laughed,
and yet, as always on that day,
I knew He would provide a way.
My older brothers, though,
had not the faith to know
it could be done
and so made fun
of my belief. What grief
they heaped upon my soul.
Their only goal, they made it plain,
was causing me more pain.
Sharon Nauta Steele
June 7, 2012
NEPHI: FORGING ON
Because I needed tools
to build my ship,
I asked the Lord to help me
find good ore.
Not one to shirk,
I made a bellows for the chore
of blowing fire to white heat
that I might forge provisions
for my work.
Sharon Nauta Steele
June 15, 2012
NEPHI: ENLISTING HELP
Scoffed at, ridiculed, I worked alone,
though I had known the weight of timber
in my complicated task would cause
me once again to ask my brothers’ aid.
I cited Moses in my plea. If God could
help the Israelites flee Pharaoh’s rule,
was I a fool to know He’d guide my hand
designing sure conveyance
to our promised land?
Sharon Nauta Steele
June 23, 2012
NEPHI: TRUCE
My brothers, shaken
by God, resolved to labor
for a time with me.
Together we worked
the timbers of the vessel
that would carry us
far across the sea
to people a new nation
in the promised land.
Sharon Nauta Steele
June 29, 2012
NEPHI: COMPLETION
When, according to God’s word,
our labors had produced a craft
of curious workmanship,
my brothers did pronounce it good
and bow themselves again
before the Lord.
Then we prepared to board
and stored provisions
deep within our vessel’s
ample hold, rejoicing
with thanksgiving on our lips
ere our long ocean voyage
did unfold.
Sharon Nauta Steele
July 12, 2012
NEPHI: MUTINY
Confined in close quarters,
so many weeks,
our patience waned,
our tempers flared,
and testimonies faltered.
As in the past,
my older brothers
took their anger out on me;
they bound my wrists
and smote my cheeks
and fought the surging wave.
And when at last our compass failed—
its spindles sprung awry,
I feared an ocean grave.
Sharon Nauta Steele
July 16, 2012
NEPHI CHASTISES HIS BROTHERS
Past feeling,
you distained to hear
an angel speak--
that still, small voice
so resonant
that called you to repent.
A voice of thunder
shook the earth, unheard,
so deaf your ears
to Father’s word.
And now you laugh
to hear my pleas
in your behalf.
Yeah, you would cast me
from this vessel’s decks
into the roiling seas,
so hard your hearts
so stiff your proud,
obdurate necks.
Sharon Nauta Steele
February 17, 2012
LEHI TAKES TO HIS BED
Responding to my anguished pleas,
my elder sons breathed wrath
upon my weary head,
defiant and more brutal to their brother
on the ship.
And I much stricken in my years
and in my grief brought down,
retired with deep sorrow to my bed.
NEPHI: WRACKED
Four whole days we floundered,
wracked by raging seas,
and I, bound by my brothers,
could not help or intervene.
Oh, mournful scene:
my parents’ grief unheeded,
my family’s pleas ignored,
‘til wicked hearts were chastened
by the power of the Lord.
Sharon Nauta Steele
July 21, 2012
NEPHI: UNBOUND
Then when my brothers granted me release,
the tempest-driven heaving of the seas did cease,
and I with wrists and ankles swollen from tight ligatures,
did take the compass in my hands
and steer the ship at last to promised lands.
Sharon Nauta Steele
December 17, 2012
Like good seed scattered
with a caring hand, let us
root in fertile ground.
Sharon Nauta Steele
April 3, 2012
ULTIMATUM
But if such graftings
bring forth bitter, wild fruit,
burn the tree,
destroy the root.
Sharon Nauta Steele
April 5, 2012
NEPHI PROPHECIES
As the gentiles hearken
unto the shepherd’s call,
they shall be gathered home
and numbered in his flock.
Sharon Nauta Steele
August 25, 2012
LIAHONA
By faith this compass
guides us to the Promised Land.
We’ve but to follow.
Sharon Nauta Steele
February 12, 2012
NEPHI: BROKEN BOW
While hunting game
along the borders
of the Red Sea,
I broke my bow.
My head hung low
as I returned without
provisions to sustain
my family’s hungry need
and heard them murmur
cursing me,
but even worse
profaning deity.
Sharon Nauta Steele
August 5, 2012
LAMON AND LEMUEL: REVOLT
And we thought we saw an angel
Pfft! Our father’s foolishness
is rubbing off on us
to let our younger brother have his say
and succumb to his charms--
ambitious tongue from one so young.
We rue that day and bind his arms.
Sharon Nauta Steele
January 28, 2012
LEHI’S LAMENT
The days of my life
are as the autumn leaves…
Oh, how it grieves my soul
to think this life might pass
with children’s faces hardened
in discord.
How long we’ve trod
this pathway, led by God…
And yet, these wayward sons
are loathe to understand
the sweet and tender mercies,
of the Lord.
Sharon Nauta Steele
February 12, 2012
LEHI’S PLEA
Arise my sons--
lift up your eyes,
let your hearts warm,
grow humble, wise.
Put off the cloak
of unbelief--
be gentled, sons,
assuage my grief.
Awake my sons--
before I’m gone,
grasp God’s strong hand
And then hold on.
Sharon Nauta Steele
February 12, 2012
NOMADS ON THE RUN
Through adversity we waded
nomads on the run,
our women bearing children
in the wild.
So many years we wandered
towards the rising sun,
trusting in our Father
to provide.
Sharon Nauta Steele
April 28, 2012
PROVISION
God cautions us against the use of fire—
lest we draw attention to ourselves?
or set the dryness of the land aflame?
‘t is all the same:
We need not cook before we eat;
He makes our food, like manna, sweet.
Sharon Nauta Steele
April 7, 2012
STRENGTHENED
Eight long years
we journeyed in the wild--
man, woman, child,
laden in our passage east,
each day so long.
And yet, we met
our trials with a song.
Keeping the commandments
we grew strong.
Sharon Nauta Steele
June 3, 2012
NEPHI ON THE MOUNT
And after we had sojourned
in the land of Bountiful
for many days,
I heard God speak.
That urgent beckoning
bid me ascend
a looming mountain peak.
And there above
our clustered tents
in pristine mountain air,
I bowed my head
to seek His will
through fervent,
heartful prayer.
Sharon Nauta Steele
April 14, 2012
NEPHI: CALLED TO BUILD A SHIP
When God commanded me
to build a ship,
I was astounded.
Unfounded in the art
of fabricating watercraft,
I might have laughed,
and yet, as always on that day,
I knew He would provide a way.
My older brothers, though
had not the faith to know
it could be done
and so made fun
of my belief. What grief
they heaped upon my soul.
Their only goal, they made it plain,
was causing me more pain.
Sharon Nauta Steele
June 7, 2012
NEPHI: FORGING ON
Because I needed tools
to build my ship,
I asked the Lord to help me
find good ore.
Not one to shirk,
I made a bellows for the chore
of blowing fire to white heat
that I might forge provisions
for my work.
Sharon Nauta Steele
June 15, 2012
NEPHI: ENLISTING HELP
Scoffed at, ridiculed, I worked alone,
though I had known the weight of timber
in my complicated task would cause
me once again to ask my brothers’ aid.
I cited Moses in my plea. If God could
help the Israelites flee Pharaoh’s rule,
was I a fool to know He’d guide my hand
designing sure conveyance
to our promised land?
Sharon Nauta Steele
June 23, 2012
NEPHI: TRUCE
My brothers, shaken
by God, resolved to labor
for a time with me.
Together we worked
the timbers of the vessel
that would carry us
far across the sea
to people a new nation
in the promised land.
Sharon Nauta Steele
June 29, 2012
NEPHI: COMPLETION
When, according to God’s word,
our labors had produced a craft
of curious workmanship,
my brothers did pronounce it good
and bow themselves again
before the Lord.
Then we prepared to board
and stored provisions
deep within our vessel’s
ample hold, rejoicing
with thanksgiving on our lips
ere our long ocean voyage
did unfold.
Sharon Nauta Steele
July 12, 2012
NEPHI: MUTINY
Confined in close quarters,
so many weeks,
our patience waned,
our tempers flared,
and testimonies faltered.
As in the past,
my older brothers
took their anger out on me;
they bound my wrists
and smote my cheeks
and fought the surging wave.
And when at last our compass failed—
its spindles sprung awry,
I feared an ocean grave.
Sharon Nauta Steele
July 16, 2012
NEPHI CHASTISES HIS BROTHERS
Past feeling,
you distained to hear
an angel speak--
that still, small voice
so resonant
that called you to repent.
A voice of thunder
shook the earth, unheard,
so deaf your ears
to Father’s word.
And now you laugh
to hear my pleas
in your behalf.
Yeah, you would cast me
from this vessel’s decks
into the roiling seas,
so hard your hearts
so stiff your proud,
obdurate necks.
Sharon Nauta Steele
February 17, 2012
LEHI TAKES TO HIS BED
Responding to my anguished pleas,
my elder sons breathed wrath
upon my weary head,
defiant
and more brutal to their brother
on the ship.
And I much stricken in my years
and in my grief brought down,
retired with deep sorrow to my bed.
NEPHI: WRACKED
Four whole days we floundered,
wracked by raging seas,
and I, bound by my brothers,
could not help or intervene.
Oh, mournful scene:
my parents’ grief unheeded,
my family’s pleas ignored,
‘til wicked hearts were chastened
by the power of the Lord.
Sharon Nauta Steele
July 21, 2012
NEPHI: UNBOUND
Then when my brothers granted me release,
the tempest-driven heaving of the seas did cease,
and I with wrists and ankles swollen from tight ligatures,
did take the compass in my hands
and steer the ship at last to promised lands.
Sharon Nauta Steele
December 17, 2012
