I Wonder!

This world's a book of billions of stories,
Many of which may never be read:
Of all the pain, and all the glories,
And all that ever was done and said.

So amazing the tales of every kind!
I wonder what the author had in mind!


An anthology of lines in endless poetry,
Of awesome depth and flawless rhyme,
That have been penned through all of history,
And will be written till the end of time.

Such wondrous verse so subtly defined!
I wonder what the poet had in mind!


A magna opera of masterpiece creation,
So prodigious and beyond compare;
How awesome is the revelation
To the seeker who sees it everywhere!

Is everywhere so hard to find?
I wonder what the artist had in mind!


The designer's wisdom in the work displayed;
The percipience and the artistry:
Such amazing beauty, so well arrayed;
How astounding is this mystery!

Past, present and future, eternally divined:
I wonder what the creator had in mind!


Eric A Trott

22nd July 2018

On the Rock

As my thoughts ricochet off a wall of silence,

I tread a line 'tween faith and doubt;

But I stand my ground in firm defiance

Knowing my strength may soon run out.

At the crossroads on this life’s hard journey,

I linger, not knowing the way ahead;

The signposts are few and the options many,

And confusion fills my heart with dread.

But I will not look at the wind and waves,

And I will not lean on my fragile skill;

I will fix my gaze on the One who saves,

And humbly yield unto His will.

Though my state be beyond my understanding,

Yet, I won’t give in to fear’s cold grasp;

On the Rock is where I’ll remain standing,

And I know my hand He’ll firmly clasp.

Eric Anthony Trott

18th September 2016

If I Could Only

O if I could only set in tune,

My mind to rhythm and heart to rhyme;

And I know it may not be too soon,

Before I reach the end of time.

If my selfish will could cease to wander,

And surrender all to His will supreme,

If I could always cause my heart to ponder,

On God's divine redemptive scheme.

My spirit cautions my feet to flee,

From passions that this world excites;

As my weary soul does beacon me,

To deeper depth and higher heights;

To tarry at my Master's feet,

And rest from Him humbly accept;

Till the glorious day I hope to meet,

My Risen Lord who paid my debt.

Eric Anthony Trott

6th September 2015

The Grace to Stay Faithful

Lord, I'm sorry that I hurt You,

I'm sorry for going astray:

Please help me to stay focused

And to never turn away.

My mind sometimes wanders

To things that do distract,

To thoughts, I shouldn't think of,

For I'm weak, and that's a fact.

But I ask You for the grace Lord

To live my life this day;

That I'll stay faithful and fruitful,

In Jesus' Name, I pray!

Amen!

Eric Anthony Trott

22nd June 2019


If you know Jesus and love talking to Him in prayer, you have probably experienced yourself sometimes drift away in your thoughts in the midst of a prayer.  I have experienced that often.  On one such occasion, while I was in prayer, talking to Jesus, my mind began to wander off on a train of thought,  down some dark alley of the past, when I suddenly felt the gentle nudge of God's Holy Spirit prompting me to come back. The nudge was in fact so gentle that I could have missed it. I'm so glad I didn't. I at once repented of my wandering and wrote this prayer poem.

By His Grace

The Lord hath redeemed by His grace

My sinful soul from death's domain:

Upon the Cross, He took my place,

He bore my sin, my shame, my pain.

No man-made fame, past or present

Shall stay until the end of time:

And all the boasting men may present

Shall not equal His Word sublime.

No prize, no crown, no accolade,

No earthly gain can satisfy:

'Twas what the hand of God hath made

That causeth me to testify.

Until I go to be with Him,

To live is Christ, to die is gain;

My blessed hope is safe in Him,

Since Jesus died and rose again.

I pray that souls for Christ be won

As by his grace, I do my best,

Till all my work on earth is done

And I am laid at last to rest,

And on that great and glorious day,

In that voice ever so pleasant,

I long to hear my Saviour say,

"Well-done good and faithful servant",

Eric A Trott

9th July 2019

From Darkness to Light

Hurtling down on hell’s highway,

On the road that leads to destruction:

With stubborn will to go my way,

And a heart overcome by frustration:

What lay ahead I did not know,

But believed I had to get somewhere:

My deepest fears I would not show,

For pride forbade me my soul to bare.

Darkness surrounded my every plan;

Till no way out was in sight:

Still faster on in haste I ran

In courseless, dismal, futile flight.

Until at last worn out I stumbled,

And fell before the Mighty Rock:

Broken, contrite, entirely humbled;

It was there I heard my Savior knock.

He asked if He could give me life,

A life purchased by His Blood Divine;

In exchange for my sin and strife,

And the selfish nature that was mine.

To my shame I realized my state;

What a miserable wretch was I:

I knew tomorrow would be too late

Should today pass me by.

Then I looked and there before me lay,

My entire existence in a thousand pieces;

So I gave them all to My Lord that day,

That He may do with them as He pleases:

Those broken pieces, He took them all,

And He gave me back a brand new heart;

And the day I responded to His call,

Was the day I got a brand new start.

I was hopeless, sinful and lost,

Wallowing in my sorrowful plight;

But Jesus paid a precious cost

That I could become a child of Light.

No sorrow now could ever dim

The joy that I have come to gain;

Now the life I live I live in Him

Because Jesus died and rose again.

Words can’t express the gratitude

I feel for all He did for me;

As I press on in His Spirit’s fortitude

Until my Savior’s face I see.

Eric Anthony Trott

9th January 2013

“From Darkness to Light” is my testimony in poetry of how God transformed my life from being broken and hopeless to something beautiful and full of hope.  Today makes more than a quarter of a century since I first gave my life to Jesus. As I look back now on all those years, I have so much to thank Him for.

The Creation

God made the earth, the sun and the stars;

He made planets like Venus and Mars.

At first, the Earth was all empty and bare,

But then God started by giving it air.

He then made trees and shrubs to grow,

And water in streams to gently flow.

God made great mountains all covered with snow,

And deep green valleys down below.

God made creatures on the Earth to crawl,

And birds to fly and never to fall.

Then God made a woman and a man,

And from thence our human race began:

Their names were Adam and Eve,

And in the devil, did they believe:

They ate the fruit of the forbidden tree,

And from then has temptation come to be.

So little children when their lives begin

Must try never to fall in sin;

And if they seldom fall in sin,

They shall live forever in heaven.

Eric Anthony Trott

This poem was originally written in the 1970s 

“The Creation”, though not the first poem I composed, is the first that I actually preserved. I wrote this poem when I was a child of about ten or twelve years old.  It is interesting that while as a young man I became quite agnostic and sometimes even proclaiming myself to be an atheist, my belief in God when I was a child was unquestioning as is quite evident from this poem. I guess that came from the teaching of my mother, who was a God-fearing and devout Catholic woman.

From Struggle to Victory

Between the shame of all the deeds I've done,
And the shameless pursuit of sin;
Between the Law away from which I run,
And the licentiousness that I fall in:

Between the striving that is all in vain
Social demands to satisfy,
And running after selfish gain
My flesh to gratify.

O the war between pressure to perform
And the permission to please myself;
Who can deliver me my wretched state from?
For I am helpless by myself.

But true victory find I in moving on
From sin to justification,
By humble contrite confession
That allows sanctification.

No, upon myself I do not depend,
But upon Jesus' cleansing Blood:
Yes, I know my case He will defend,
And empower with the Spirit's flood.

Eric Anthony Trott

11th February 2012

This is a poem that came together in my head in the middle of the night as I lay awake thinking of how the devil can keep us busy between legalism on the one hand and licentiousness on the other or pleasing others on the one hand and pleasing ourselves on the other so that we completely miss the point of God's Grace.

Life as It Seems

As I look back at how life has been,

The ups and downs and the in-between;
The hardest times are harder to leave behind
They somehow get imprinted on the mind.

But then as I look at the lives of others,
And I see the pain of my sisters and brothers;
My own suffering is suddenly so small;
It is not even worth mentioning at all.

Yes, life it seems is not what it seems;
For it could appear rosy while falling apart at the seams.
Though things look good from afar,
Up closer you will find how different they are.

I know well there's a reality hereafter;
Where all sorrow will be turned to laughter:
Where Christ has prepared a place for me,
And I'll be there with Him for eternity.

But here I ought to look a lot deeper,
For I am indeed my brother's keeper:
The Book of Books says love everyone;
And I'll be accountable after all is said and done.

Eric Anthony Trott

2012

God's Strength and my Weakness

When my strength is too weak
And my weakness too strong,
It is Jesus whom I seek
And for Him that I long.

When my weakness is too strong
And my strength is too weak,
His deliverance is my song
And of His power, I will speak.

For when in my strength, I boast
And in my flesh I trust,
I am overwhelmed the most
Until confess I must;

That I can do nothing
When I do it on my own,
But I can do everything
When I trust Him alone.

I pray that in my weakness
He would perfect His strength,
And I would trust Him in meekness
Through all of life's length:

So that to Him be all glory
And all joy may be mine,
And my life be a story
Of His power divine.

Eric Anthony Trott

4th March 2013

Lord Make Me A Blessing

Lord teach me to know to help
So that I may help someone know;
Help me to love the unloved
Like I've never done before.

Show me what compassion is
Let my concern be real;
And help me to empathise
With the pain people feel.

Burden me with what burdens your heart
And help me to carry
The burdens of others
As at Your feet I tarry.

Enable me to bless someone
In some way today:
Lord make me a blessing
In Christ's Name I pray.

Eric Anthony Trott

19th March 2013

I Thank God For My Wife!

I thank God for giving me

The woman who is my wife;

And for her love for me

Which so wonderfully blessed my life.

God said, looking at His son,

"It's not good that he's alone:

So, I'll give him a companion;

A woman he can call his own”.

So, He brought this wonderful lady

To me to be my bride;

And from that blessed, beautiful day

She has remained by my side.

I never could have understood

How God a man can bless,

Had I not known the woman

Who brought such happiness!

Yes, God has blessed me so much

By giving me His beautiful daughter,

Who stepped into my lonely life

And changed my sadness to laughter.

She has changed so many things

That I thought could never change,

With her ever loving, caring ways

That so beautifully rearrange.

Well she changed my untidiness

And helped me realize,

The benefit of discipline

And learning to organize.

I used to be hot tempered

And would easily lose my head;

But she taught me to say sorry

Before I went to bed.

She has been just wonderful

As a wife and friend to me;

And such an amazing mother

To our children – we have three!

Each passing day brings love so sweet

And many a new surprise;

And to describe what she means to me

Words would not suffice:

So, I ask God for the grace for me

To be the husband she deserves,

And pray that as we grow in years

Our love He preserves.

Yes, I know I’ll always love her

For all the days of my life:

And I thank God for giving me

The woman who is my wife.

Eric Anthony Trott                                                                                                                             

17th January 2013

This is a poem I composed for Doris, who has been my Darling Wife for 19 years now and it was for her birthday which is on the 18th of January.

A wife of noble character who can find?  She is worth far more than rubies. Proverbs 31:10

Beyond the Physical

From the moment of birth when life’s unfurled,
Until as old as we have grown,
It is by our physical bodies we know the world;
And it is by our bodies that we are known.

We start to hear the sounds of life
Even when still in our mother’s womb,
And are familiar with all its joys and strife
Till laid to rest in the cold hard tomb.

To smell the fragrance of the breeze;
How invigorating is the air so fresh:
To behold the beauty of the trees;
How amazing we can in mortal flesh!

To feel the warmth of a loved one’s touch
And know the comfort of being in love.
O the taste of victuals that are relished much:
Is this mere material or something above?

Alas, the constraints of an earthly body
That does restrain our urge to fly!
And the journey from euphoria to feeling shoddy
As time and tide does pass us by!

A life of anticipation and hope from birth
That looks forward to what is to come,
How could it end buried beneath the earth
Where speech is silenced and senses numb?

Nay, God has put into the heart of man
The knowledge of eternity;
Not without a much greater plan
That’s beyond plain physical entity:

While we have bodies, we are souls
That were created to live eternally;
Heaven bound with earthly goals
Of being fruitful implicitly.

But sin has separated us from God’s will
And the knowledge of His Divine Purpose:
And he that comes to steal and kill
Does all he can to destroy us.

But Jesus came to seek and save
Mankind He created that was lost;
That they might have the hope He gave
For which on the Cross He paid the cost.

The choice is ours to remain enslaved
To the one who would have us lost forever,
Or believe and be saved
By the One who is the Only Savior.

Yea, Jesus came a life to give
That we may have abundantly;
He died and rose that we might live
Not in the flesh but spiritually.

Eric Anthony Trott

July 15, 2013

How Will I Finish?

As I  ponder upon
The days bygone
And wonder what's yet to come,
I see each decision
That has shaped within
What I have and will become.

For though God's sovereign plan
Is far beyond man
In man's finite comprehension,
He gives us the choice
To hear His voice
Or reject His intervention.

So what would there be
In hindsight to see
Of all the years gone by:
Where neither pleasure nor
The much strived for
Accolades could satisfy?

But finishing well
Will leave a story to tell
To those that look for inspiration;
As they continue to grapple
With choice and with will
In this and every generation.

Eric Anthony Trott

31st January 2015