1983
Have Ye Received His Image?
September 1983


“Have Ye Received His Image?” Ensign, Sept. 1983, 7

Have Ye Received His Image? (Alma 5:14)

This poem is the first place faculty poetry winner in a 1983 ASBYU/Ensign essay and poetry contest addressing “The Role of Learning and Becoming a Saint.”

Here, unfinished I stand,

Marbled piece of living stuff,

Hammer in my hand,

Chisel poised to crack the crass away.

Before the thudding, tender stroke

I wait.

What seemed so sure a blow

falters Feeling skin,

Then,

One self bids its counterpart,

“Begin.”

Gently,

Chipping slower

Than the tempered chisel

Was designed to chop,

I start.

A surer stroke

Probes within,

As deeper, deepest blow

Shapes rude stone’s life

To Godly likeness,

Proportioning each part,

Til the finished figure gleams.

Still one last Master-stroke

Will give me life:

Hammer, swing with perfect art!

Find deeper still

Fashion a broken heart.

Photography by Eldon K. Linschoten