---
title: 'S.J. Fisher: “Within is More!”'
type: post
author: 'R. Andrew Myers'
date: 2020-01-07
url: https://confessional.org/blog/2020-s-j-fisher-within-is-more
---

# S.J. Fisher: “Within is More!”

Today’s post comes in the form of a meditation by African-American pastor and poet [Samuel Jackson Fisher](/authors/samuel-jackson-fisher) (1847-1928) found in *The Romance of Pittsburgh or Under Three Flags, and Other Poems*.

**“Within is More!”**

> In famous Bruges — quaint old Flemish town —
> On which the lofty belfry tower looks down,
> There stands with fair and stately front a house
> Whose legend ever must the thought arouse,
> For this strange motto long it proudly bore,
> Carved on its doorway beam: “Within is more;”
> And he who reads it feels this cryptic word
> His eager questioning has deeply stirred.
> 
> Yet may we not to this strange mystery
> Find at our hand the long-sought key?
> Fair is the front — without it charms the eye —
> But home’s great charm and treasure inside lie.
> No outside gaze can measure all the store
> Of joys so hidden, for “Within is more.”
> 
> And so I love to think as to our eyes
> The golden walls and domes of Heaven arise;
> Tho’ fair is all now seen, and blest the view,
> That still for us the ancient words are true.
> And when in Love’s good time we pass the door,
> Entranced we shall confess, “Within is more.”