Alice Louise Salter 

Raleigh, North Carolina, USA 

  
 
 

Born in Indiana into a home of poverty, high moral values and education, I survived uneasily in my love of nature, beauty and dreams. While studying at Columbia in New York City, I met and later married Manuel Lee Salter, inventor and writer. I worked five years as writer for congress. We raised two children; at near school age I returned to teaching, completing twenty-five years. My husband died in 1993; grief lingered long. Dr. Jim Eller, my minister, urged me to write again. May the joy and peace of faith in Jesus Christ be evident to all nations in my poetry.
 

Vision Beyond the Stars

Sometimes I dream I am a child again
And in a vision see far beyond the stars!
There I'd join the hands of all
From every nation, near and far --
And pray with you for the end of war!
How can we kill our fellow men,
Have no feeling for defenseless women,
And show no pity for little children?

You are leaders, all of you;
It is you who were given vision!
The soul of man cries out to God --
Whatever our race or religion --
To fill the emptiness, the void within.
You can lead and love all men!
I plead with you to speak for women
And little children in every land;
Speak out against the crimes of hate,
Help end the thirst for power and greed.
I join with you to love and lead!

Teachers, speakers, song writers, ministers,
Public figures give love -- your power
Is far more than you know for peace.
Light the torch in every land with your vision!

The Master Artist

Between age five and now - it's been a long time -
If I've held one position - it's been a hundred;
Many in order to earn - others just to learn.
School came first; often I was needed at home -
At times one known or unknown sought me out.

The amazing thing now is how each piece fits
Into a still-evolving, ever-clearer picture!
Was it intended? The colors are from a palette
More bright and varied than an artist could
With careful blends of subtle shades ever dream;
The picture so perfect in accent and tone -
The Master Artist, and He alone, must hold the palette!

Not one year of those many I was teacher or professor,
No single experience as volunteer, part-timing -
Oh, so much of it, as college and university
Schedules shifted for this term or that semester -
No, not a single one of the pieces was lost;
Each is apparent if one studies closely the picture.
"But why, just why was all of this?"
As I helped each one in every way I could -
But with so little money - I found,
As I learned, more lies in caring.

All poems Copyright © 1997 Alice Louise Salter. All rights reserved.