My father taught me to swim
I feared he would
drop me in deep water
Jesus invites me
out of the boat
the little girl
still fears the deep
but Jesus whispers
“My grace is sufficientâ€
Category Archives: The Pen
Lent Musings 5
I tried to write
a poem or a prayer
and the words
were hidden
behind my need
for clarity
and so I write that
because you are big enough
for all my questions
and frustrations
and confusion
today you say “hushâ€
“just trustâ€
so I will sit at your feet
until you speak
Lent Musings 4
we mourn for the children of Abraham
lost in a wilderness
of their own making
we mourn for the loss of the garden
for the lies we make truth
we mourn for ourselves
as we stumble back to you
stone bruised and world weary
we cling to the hope
that our stones will be rolled away
and there will be rejoicing
just beyond the horizon
in heaven and on earth
as your resurrection people
dance out of their tombs
Lent Musings 3
A repentence
from smallness
trying to fit my feet
into your footsteps
sometimes all I see
is your shadow
I’m sorry for focusing
on the wrong things
while you were busy
just to the side of my vision
I’m sorry for my dreams
that are too little
and would fill
a dimestore postcard
that says “wish you were hereâ€
when you are painting a sunset
that sings
“I AMâ€
Lent Musings 2
I see creation
both beautiful and terrible
and my questions grow
I come to you for answers
and echoes of Job
ask me
“Where were you
when I laid the foundations of the world?â€
I worry at my faults like
a sore that won’t heal
and there is Paul, head bent over a letter
pen scratching
“My grace is sufficient for youâ€
I cry out in fear
asking for reassurance
for a promise
and the Psalmist sings
“Trust in the Lord with all your heartâ€
I demand to know when you will fix
this broken creation
Jesus whispers
“Do you love me?â€
Lent Musings 1
there are cycles
I always felt them
just at the edge of light
like that feeling you are falling
and you jerk awake
in your fear
almost doing the thing you dream
you made the world and see the beginning and end
as one thing, part of the whole
I am a dot on the line
that you draw where history meets future
I was, I am and will be
because you were
and are
and forever will be
I can’t hold all of you any more
than I could drink an ocean
yet you make a home
in me
Never
I never knew
that red anger
clangs like loose tin
in a windstorm
cutting the air as it sings with venom
or that white hot hate would stripe
the backs of humanity wielded
by those who can
or that blue bruises
would darken hearts
and stiffen hands that can’t
gentle a troubled world.
Ashes
Job sat in the ashes and wept While satan ripped open his life And he wondered if the Father slept Job sat in the ashes and wept While it seemed that all joy had died Job sat in the ashes and wept But he held to his faith through the lies Job sat in the ashes and wept Even wifey said curse God and die Just cruel words from his friends inept Job sat in the ashes and wept In time, god’s promises were kept Though we even now wonder why Job sat in the ashes and wept And often we echo his cries
A Triolet is a poetic form consisting of only 8 lines. Within a Triolet, the 1st, 4th, and 7th lines repeat, and the 2nd and 8th lines do as well. The rhyme scheme is simple: ABaAabAB, capital letters representing the repeated lines.
Lost
Photo by Tommy Stone
a silence deep and calm
in greyest grey
and gloomest gloom
a weighted nothing
soft as down
even wings are stilled
and in the waiting weighting
stillness soft but heavy too
a time to sit and watch
cling to branch and to each other
time will pass and darkness to
just air, just water both give life
so peace and flight will come again
hold fast and fly on better days
Dawn Rises
mist rises from the pond
to greet the dawn
the coolness of night remains and as
wisps reach for the sun
knowing warmth it covets
birth straining towards death
the pond remains quietly in the light
A New Year
A friend posted several very gray photos on his Facebook page with short poems, expressing his depression over the new leadership. Â I have been sad, angry, dismayed, but I can’t sustain that. I ‘m not made that way. My verse for this year is Romans 12:21Â Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good
My responses to his photos are below.
sun rises and sets as the planet spins
It pays no mind to us
to our worries and hopes
to kings and paupers
it shines the same creating light and shadow
on the pond as on the castle
castles crumble and ponds dry up
mountains smooth out as wind
blows grains of sand
how do we live?
one grain at a time
waiting for light
waiting for rain
washing worries and hopes the same
soaking kings and paupers
pay attention
as the sun rises and sets
and we spin on this planet
pay attention
__________________________
if the world is gray, let it be silver
the light reflects off low clouds
while the sun licks her wounds
rests for another glad dawn
holding herself just on the other side
out of sight but still giving light
sun cannot help but shine
any more than I can not breathe
and while breath is not promised
nor another dawn certain
we remember gold and cling to air
if they are gone, we will meet
the sun on the other side
I will hope, and pray, and love as hard as I can.
New Year Reflections
I had so many dark thoughts about the past year and not a lot of positive for the next. I was prepared to write a ranting post about the horrible state of the world and then….I read several things written by folks much smarted than I am. For instance:
“Speaking of the happy new year, I wonder if any year ever had less chance of being happy. It’s as though the whole race were indulging in a kind of species introversion — as though we looked inward on our neuroses. And the thing we see isn’t very pretty… So we go into this happy new year, knowing that our species has learned nothing, can, as a race, learn nothing — that the experience of ten thousand years has made no impression on the instincts of the million years that preceded.” John Steinbeck January 1, 1941
It would seem that as bad as things seem, they come in cycles so in the words of Bette Davis “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.†I’m going to hang on and hope to ride it out until the wheel turns.
as long as there are poets
and stars up in the sky
then hope will fling the sweetest words
to float above us high
as long as there are singers
the band will surely play
marry the two, the singer the song
the heart will have it’s say
as long as there are dancers
and feet to tap the time
to travel the world on a single floor
movement synced with rhyme
as long as there are painters
to mirror color and line
reflect the hope, the world goes on
with brushstroke, broad and fine
as long as there’s a speck of God
in every living soul
creative need a planted seed
will help to make us whole
as long as there are hands to make
to reach across a chasm deep
to hold, to soothe, extend to shake
to do the work till time to sleep
from heart to mind to hands and feet
all will sing and move and say
and when we’re gone the song goes on
shadow, echo, fade away
Happy 2017 world.
Mary Rocked
When Mary rocked her baby boy
She dozed as mothers do
and as she slept she dreamed
a dream of me and you
For in her arms a baby slept
but there was more she held
for on this night all round her
God’s own angels knelt
In Mary’s arms the world did rest
each soul who breathed and died
Mary rocked the world that night
all the way to God’s side
For every tender kiss and touch
God’s love flowed gently through
This baby born to live and die
To make each of us new
Autumn Gold
cold rusted leaves cling to wet branches
braced for a final fall
last dance before the earth swallows their life
to give back to next years new growth
memories of sun fill veins
pulse slowed to the rhythm of seasons
give way to slumber
as though winter wins the battle
as though the fight does not go on
frost will come over and over again
the cold cannot reason past it’s arrival
but roots will hold trees in place
waiting for the first drops
as light and life triumph
the bright gold a promise
that is always, always kept
hope
Wisdom of Trees
Peace falls soft with the night
Though even as the sun sets
it shares a rosy glow
Though we may be blue as the sky
The lesson from the trees
Taught as they stand still and reach
for light till it fades to black
and even then they stand
waiting to share the cool
gathered from night
when the sun returns
Grand Finale
Photo and Title Credit Tommy Stone
The sun, she doesn’t hide from sight
even the clouds can’t keep her light
from painting a fading sky
Even the waters sing her chorus
knowing that dark is nigh
even the trees give rest
and the birds do cease to fly
and still the sun keeps dancing
her colors wild, enchanting
as shadow slowly slanting
she says “it matters! Look and see!â€
“Dance the music plays for free!â€
And even as the last notes played
the echo reaches space
and though the dark will come too soon
last rays warm watcher’s face
Last Gasps
Photo and Title Credit Tommy Stone
like the pillow
where I lay my head
clouds will cover trees
in softest down
as night shakes out
the wrinkles smoothing
out the tension
calming all the babies
tucking heads neath
feathered wings
nested in the darkest leaves
settle lower, deeper still
heavy lidded, curled around
from top to trunk
rooted in the bed of earth
sings a mother sky
of sunset dreams
and sleepy sighs
In The Silence
As I walk through the world
I wonder what is my purpose,
my reason, my work
Fears and worries chase me
like a million bees buzzing in my ears
but the sun reminds me that I will be warm
The pond reflects the peace
that grows in the trees and the grass
The bird stands guard
proclaiming nothing and everything
In the silence