Bitter Tears - summer

Bitter tears

don’t fail me now

falling from abandoned brow

newly fed

from disappointments’ scowl-

Guilty! it said

so I fell in

making my own law and sin

not believing He would save me

yet again…

Faith is resurrected,

sure as He receives my cry

I will never be abandoned

bitter tears

He will have dried…

working it through - summer

I hear hues of blue

and billows of white

the sky sings Your praise

with its lyric of sight.

I see birds call

and I view the world's in tune

everything working together

as I must work it through...

I don't know when 

and I don't know how

You'll answer prayer

but your peace is now. 

Healing from God - summer

To look at people through God's eyes -

what would I see?

A whole lot of people

hurting more than me!

Pain from the inside,

pain from without,

so much suffering

in a world filled with doubt...

evils around us

while faith is God's cure,

Christ saw us all

through a life that was pure

as compassion from the Father flowed

to heal every suffering

in a way we can't know.

So every day

let me pray

that God will restore

each sorrowing soul -

for His eyes are on the people

and He desires to see us whole.

God is All - summer

God is the feeling of the forest

though He is not the trees.

He is not the sun in the sky

but the light of day that it brings.

God may not be blue

but He is the covering over us all,

He's the warmth of a temperate day

and the feeling of it -

that is His way.

God is the water of a quenching cool stream

where there is no more thirst

because of what His Spirit brings.

He is rest without fatigue,

and comfort when there is no pain.

He is life itself

refreshing us with His eternal rain.

God is good

and when from this earth He calls

we won't be lacking anything we may have left -

at all.

Life Won't Pass You By - summer

Today

is the kind of day

when life doesn’t pass you by,

if you sit still

it will send you things

and you don’t even have to try –

a warming sun

a gentle breeze

the calming sounds

of bird call and trees –

resist the urge to jump up and go

for only by staying

will the blessings flow.

fireflies-summer

Fireflies come and go

first they're hidden

then they glow

rising, falling

dreamlike state

fantasies while I'm awake

Summer Solstice - summer

the climb from a valley

to a mountain peak:

the time from winter solstice

to summer's pinnacled week-

from there the daylight stretches

to both horizons sunlit shores

not obscured like winter's darkness,

deep within a valley's floor.

Here the human soul rejoices

standing midst created height.

Let us never be descending -

keepers of this flame of light.

To commermorate D-day 70 years ago - spring

The brightest and the bravest

went off to war,

there they killed each other,

now they are no more.

Maybe that is why this world 

seems so very wrong,

those who chose to take a stand -

are gone.

Eternal Spring - spring

 Bring me the Eternal Spring

where everything is turning green

and the Fount of Life – ever flowing.

Death can never be a door

to stop us from receiving more

of Love’s true purpose,

He draws us near

and we are never lost who hear

the only voice that can’t be taken…

with the Giver of life

we’re never forsaken.

Wedding Poem for My Daughter - spring

My daughter and her husband met at a  dance-

You danced

      into each other’s lives

    with a holding of hands

     and a marriage of eyes;

       two separate people

          moving as one

    discovering the beauty

     of what you’d become.

    Romance would blossom

     as flowers in the spring,

   commitment would follow

      with vows and a ring,

       entwining together

     as closer you’re drawn

 may your hearts move in union

         to God’s loving song.

 

          April 26, 2014

                                                                             s.f.g.

                          



We Believe - Easter

To He,

who made the song of spring,

we believe

in Your transforming.

Winter bare

when growth was gone,

lives again

as comes the dawn.

Giver of all life anew

coming from the grave

it could be only You.

Bear our hope,

and see us through...

To He

who made the song of spring,

we believe

in Your transforming.



I Am Into Epic-spring

I am into epic -

where everything's about the whole.

Mundane tasks aren't challenging,

life's about the soul.

Each day is but a drizzle,

each hour no power enfolds,

capturing eternal truth

is what my heart desires to hold. 

Every Evening - spring/winter

I've a window to the west

and ne'er a sunset escapes me.

Every evening a picture framed

changing with seasons' scenery.

Embracing our spirit with its ebb and flow

moving our emotions

if you let it do so.

Lose not this passing moment

share in silent sun and shifting clouds

edifying through changing light

what God and His beauty are all about.



The Whole - spring

Tie the threads together,

you'll see my life complete

all under the umbrella

that God's Spirit makes replete.

I can document events,

tell time by the mirror

while the whole of it is His disposing,

His is the gifting while I'm here.

I will then take upon me

nothing outside of what He sends

and be inside His sovereign will

when to heaven I ascend.



Goodbye to Sochi - winter

Olympians are poets

who play to the stands,

lifting each other

to great heights by their sports' demands.

Nose to nose and toe to toe

launching themselves

as far as athletes can go,

testing the limits

on Russian ice and snow,

it will be sad to say

"goodbye" to Sochi's

"poetry in motion"

that we've come to know...

voice of reminder - winter

 

Bird in the forest

you sing of my past.

Voice of reminder

of what couldn't last.

Cherished emotions

that defy words

surface through the song

of one familiar bird...

The Light - winter

 

The more oppressive

the darkness becomes

the brighter

seems the smallest light...

why is it you don't fold?

Why aren't you freezing

when everyone else has turned cold?

The Light keeps you alive

the Light makes you free

the Light makes others look at you

and say "why isn't that me"?

It's So Cold - winter

It's so cold

even the snow groans

when trod upon so

it cries out saying

"Go back inside

where warm things stay alive

to remain intact

until spring comes back".

Music Every Moment - winter

Music at the University,

as in Elizabethan times,

was as living in a castle

playing songs and singing rhymes.

Full expression of the soul,

heart and mind,

how much longing lives in me

to return to that liberating time...

Survive - winter

 

The temperature plummeted -

dangerously cold.

The thought was, no one outside

could survive.

It's true if left

to your own devices

you couldn't stay alive.

Hope lies on the horizon

for God of the Polar Vortex,

so dire,

also created a forest of trees;

wood for a warming fire.

We gather around its protection

from there cold's harm is forced to subside

as we continue to anticipate spring

knowing Providence will provide.

Snowy Blanket - winter

Lay down your snowy blanket

snuggle me in

with solitude

silent thoughts

family

friends

it really doesn't matter

they're still blessings that you send;

so lay down your snowy blanket -

snuggle me in.

Pad the Earth with Snowing - winter

 

                                 This is the creek by our house this morning...

                         

                         God will pad the earth with snowing

                        to quiet down our coming and going... 

 



 

                                                      May beauty follow you today...

Winter Window - winter

Winter window

shines so bright,

sun reflecting

off wintry white;

how I love to admire

its entirety

that covers the land

like a rolling crystalline sea.

I walk,

I ride upon its froth

my mind and imagination

caught

by its transformation of lament

with which life is fraught...

comfort me thus

if just

for awhile

and bring to my world

your smile.

Merry Christmas Friends!

-

Wandering the world

pursuing others for their love:

Jesus is the One

who comes.

-

Searching ourselves,

so empty inside:

Jesus is the One

who comes.

-

Unfulfilling are philosophies,

looking for love, the mind finds none:

Jesus is the One

who comes.

-

Inside our soul

His work is begun:

Jesus in the One

who comes.

-

Let all ears hear

as the angels gave tongue:

Jesus is the One

who comes.

-

In bodily form

to a manger, a Son -

Jesus is the One

who comes. 

New Steps - Winter

Fresh flakes fell today,

a rebirth of the earth,

creating the pristine...

covering over

all that lay before,

oh, what a glorious

new beginning to explore!

I must take

new steps out into this wonder

and make

a path

that I've never forged before.

As it lays in front of me

so I am drawn toward

beauty, and a respite that is pure;

as the silence surrounds me

I feel once again assured

that there is nothing

that this God who makes snow cannot do -

and He will ever lead me to Him

and make all my steps

new.