God’s Minute – Anonymous Poem
I have only just a minute,
Only sixty seconds in it.
Forced upon me, can’t refuse it.
Didn’t seek it, didn’t choose it.
But it’s up to me
to use it.
I must suffer if I lose it.
Give account if I abuse it.
Just a tiny little minute,
but eternity is in it.
~ Anonymous
In the book “Dr. Benjamin E. Mays Speaks: Representative Speeches of a Great American Orator,” there is a eulogy delivered by Dr. Mays in which he states that this poem is anonymous.
I am glad that Dr. Benjamin E. Mays is now saying that the poem is anonymous. There was a time when he said on the internet, that he wrote it, and I knew that, not to be true. I read that poem in the Cleveland Catholic Universe Bulletin 50 or more years ago. I have a faded copy of a picture of it’s author, somewhere in my file cabinet. My energy level is too low to take on a search for it.
Dr. Mays died in 1984. His words are his writings and work that span fifty-nine years. Those are the only ways that Mays is now speaking. I don’t recall any of May’s writings in where he claimed literary authorship of the poem, “God’s Minute.” I do concede that in error, some preachers and/or students may have attributed this poem to Dr. Mays. I am doubtful that Mays himself would have traversed the nobility of his profession.
Hi there, did you ever get around to finding that author’s name? Thanks so much.
Well-spoken, Marcus Leathers!
I also wish to state, that there is some good material on “The Weaver”. I may have found that last verse, and the TRUE author (1950 and before), on your website.
Thanks so much and Todah Rabah!
Duane