Refrain:
Let us be as great as we are.
Let us be who God made us to me.
Given life by God's breath
And redeemed through Christ's death,
In God's love, we are free.
Verses:
1
The law that we embrace is right;
The burden that we share is light.
Together let us do the work that frees.
For if we strive for justice now,
God's spirit will instruct us how
To use our gifts for truth and for peace.
2
The Spirit will make understood
The words we need to speak of good.
Together we will glorify God here.
For when we celebrate God's glory,
When we unite to sing God's story,
We overcome our doubt and our fear.
3
So let us be God's hands today,
God's heart, God's voice, God's light, God's way;
Together let us seek out God's will.
With courage, with each other's aid,
We'll share the progress we have made,
Uniting every grace, every skill.
Broken
I am a broken vessel.
I am a leaking cup.
But your word passes through me
And falls where it may.
And I am blessed by the dregs that remain.
Invisible
I am young and helpless --
Can you hear me?
I am old and shabby --
Do you see me?
I am sick and dying --
Do you fear me?
I am bound and shackled --
Who will free me?
There go I.
There go you.
There go we.
Turn not your eyes.
We are young and helpless --
You begin us.
We are old and shabby --
You contain us.
We are sick and dying --
You are in us.
We are bound and shackled --
You unchain us.
HERE
Tonight my pond holds a sliver of moon
Tiny, bright, right on the rim,
Just for a moment, falling off soon
Swallowed, gone, into the dim
Ground.
Tonight my soul holds a glimmer of hope,
Narrow, faint, infinite flame
Flickering feebly, gripping the slope,
Clinging, here, staking its claim,
Found.
Adieu
Drawing drapes against evening chill
Looking lake-ward, I am caught,
Startled
By blood-red reflection.
Only then do I look
Up.
Flamingo plumes,
Flow from ruby
Sun.
The dying day redeemed.
FOR A ROMAN
"I'm feeling you" say the kids.
Not coming on, but reaching out.
They mean:
"Your tears blur my eyes;
"Your sobs choke my throat;
"Your pain makes me scream;
"Your courage gives me strength."
My fine, foreign friend,
My neighbor,
My confidante,
I'm feeling you.
FEAR
Zone of sunlight
Highlights one circle of trees
Only.
Pond swallows rays,
Gray melting into gray.
Lonely.
Round, round in clouds
Roars jet I cannot see
Drone-ly.
CLASH
Glorious autumn
Trees as old as houses they shade
(A generation? Two?)
Quiet homes in earth tones
More muted than fall leaves
But coordinating.
Driving by, I am content,
Peaceful, forgetful
Until striped red and white
Stabs, pierces, reminds.
The emblem that should stir
No celebration this.
It glares.
And I drive on
In tears.
Playing at Life
I've been dallying on playful paths,
Pulling back branches, letting them fly,
Picking the berries as I passed by.
I've been dallying on playful paths.
I've been frolicking in myriad streams,
Splashing and sprinkling all that I see,
Scooping up minnows, setting them free.
I've been frolicking in myriad streams.
I've been scampering up orchard trees,
Eating green apples, hanging by knees,
Upside down, watching, drinking the breeze
I've been scampering up orchard trees.
I've been savoring life's pretty toys
Catching their glimmers, grasping their joys,
Tossing and twirling, relishing noise.
I've been savoring life's pretty toys.
Haiku
Come! The path that curves
Invites us into drifting
Shade and sifting light.
Strong sun, gentle wind:
A recipe for diamonds
Twinkling on the lake.
Tiny balcony
Overlooking canopy:
Trees embracing trees.
Bits of snowy fluff
Miniature parachutes
Bearing seeds fall up.
Small, royal, intense.
Posing against heart-shaped leaf
Single violet.
Silent mounds of snow
Benevolent, not moving:
Non-violent clouds.
Mist rising in hills
Under fluorescent, veiled sky
Birds begging for rain.
Thanksgiving
I am thankful to you
And thankful for you.
I am thankful that God created you
In a world where I am created, too,
At a time when I can know you
And learn from you and
Hear you and be heard by you.
I am thankful for the light
That shines on you
And reflects on me.
I am thankful to you
And to God for you.
New Year
Memories and expectations
Meet in the moment
When midnight strikes and fireworks soar
When glittery ball reaches earth
And hopes and cheers rise
When we shout or kiss
Or toast.
We pause, looking back,
Then plunge on with courage
Into the unknown
Tomorrow.
Yet it is only a spatial revolution that we mark,
A circle round the sun.
No more time passes between these two days
Than between any two days.
Every second is new
And the things that matter are timeless.
Truth, love, light, faith, hope
Do not begin or end.
Peace still beckons
And eludes,
Teases,
Invites,
Universal
And personal.
Turn in, turn in
Do not chase it
Still yourself
And let it come.
Enter timelessness
Enter nothingness
Let go, let go
And let it find you.
Before
Before I turned the TV on
Michelle had come
To clean
And I was at my computer, finishing my prayers, typing in my journal.
Sunlight swarmed
Turned golden by the drapes.
Or was it the sun
That turned the drapes to gold?
And I had written silly thoughts
Chiding my weakness, feeling like a wimp for calling in sick the day before,
Begging for strength to get to my physical therapy appointment that afternoon and for endurance to keep my job.
And all the while
September sated the room
Drew my eyes outside to myriad greens and crystal blues.
(Only the air was gold--
No hint yet
Of fiery autumn.)
I started to do the crossword
While talking to Michelle about her kids and their school and did she need me to move out of her way.
And a Carolina wren sang "Germany, Germany, Germany, Germany"
Rising clear and sweet and bright as the day,
And that's just how the world was
Before
I turned on the TV
At nine o'clock
On Tuesday,
September
Eleventh
Two thousand and one.
