Broken Fragments

Only a bit of broken glass Half concealed in the tangled grass, But the sunbeam found a pathway through On its arrow flight from the vault of blue And straight through the weed grown thicket came To touch that glass with its kindling flame. Only a sunbeam’s glinting gold On a splintered bit that we now behold Rich with crimson and purple sheen Autumn yellow and vernal green Until, transfigured, it glows arrayed In the rainbow aura the sunbeam made. Only an old man bent and gray Gazing into the far-away. Human wreckage forlorn and lone But his face with a sudden glory shone. Was it the sunbeam’s magic wand Or hidden splendors he glimpsed beyond? Only a bit of shattered glass, And a poor old man that we idly pass, But the shard like a diamond, glittered bright And the time worn face suffused with light, When the gates in the jasper walls swung wide And those broken fragments were glorified.