Saturday, July 9, 2011

Love & Fear

Love and Fear:  December 06, 2008





Some say that all life is a stage


At 45 I say it’s more like a cage

Here I stand naked and poor

Stripped of pretense I search for the door



That stage door, a portal

And I a fearful mortal

My strength betrayed by a tear

My days often governed by fear



The stage’s egress before me

Will my curiosity restore me?

My life so very stale

Can stepping beyond alter this tale?



The Word once said that perfect love casts out fear

And He promised one day to wipe away each tear

The door to the stage bars me in

Dare I open it to fly yet again?



Fear is a door

It bars the way

Love is courage

That saves the day



The door blocks my view

Love’s vision can see right through

The door traps me here

Love expands life’s sphere



Fear is a door

And unopened shrivels the soul

Love is a conqueror

And hands me the hero’s role



Fear, a stage door

Shrinks my world

Drowns visions and dreams

Love, He is my God

Guards my heart

Fills my eyes with heavens gleams



Oh fearful door infernal

Meet my God eternal

You are naught before Love

His dreams now my hope from above



Fear the door that traps us here

Love the friend that expands our sphere


Respect

90) Respect - Sept. 20,1995



Respect

It’s not something dictated

Respect,

Is not torn

From the hearts of the timid



Respect

Is earned

Respect

Comes from the heart of the empowered



Respect is given

To those who lift us

To new heights

Those who give us the key

To achievement



Respect

Goes to the deserving

Epilogue

84) Epilogue - Apr. 07, 1987



In the preternatural glow

Sits a being who’s eyes reflect no soul



He thought he’d win the fight

But the T.V. was his plight



But it was stronger

And he sat there longer



There is no hope against his infatuation

And his lack of imagination



Thus he sits and gathers dust

While the other – rust

The Blue Curtain

64) The Blue Curtain (Circa, 1985)



Under the hook of the lip

Behind the blue curtain

I hung



For one silent moment

I was stung



By the beauty of a split second

The Potter's Hand

The Potter’s Hand – August 26, 2009





I find myself

Caught inside this mosaic

Your design and plan

Steeped in love

My life your vessel

You pour yourself

Into my heart

Until it’s overflowing joy

Your sacrifice so long ago

Reaches out to hearts parched

Starving for love

Longing for peace

And if I am willing

Open to your leading

Accepting of the potter’s hand

You use this broken

And reformed vessel

To pour out your

Endless

Fathomless

Peerless love

Into the souls

Of these dying

For peace

With the one

Who created them

To be far more

Than an island

A lonely soul

Forlorn and

Longing for meaning

Made for the corporate role

Your design a mosaic

Broken pieces

On their own

So small

Unable to tell

Your story

Together forming a painting

An image

That can speak volumes

To the lost

And heartbroken

Those without hope

Without a hero

To save the day

To redeem the time

Lost

Without impact

With little meaning

Instead

You save

You pick up the fallen

Carry the lame

See for the blind

Hear for the deaf

And speak for those

Whose voices

Have become weak

Unable to be heard

Over those who mislead

By their purpose

Or by delusion

Cries that you hear

For the truth

They reveal

Lostness

Loves bereft

Loneliness without remedy

A vacuum in their souls

Seeking to be filled

With anything to

Relieve the pain

All things sought

Only bringing sorrow

Regret

Numbness

But still

That hole

Bottomless

Seeks to be filled

Hopeless

They plod on

Restlessly moving

From one remedy

To another

Finding them all

To be empty promises

Only when one

Of your own

Hears your call

To risk much

And reach across

Death’s dark gulf

Can a lifeline

Reach the hands

Grasping Weakly

Eyes seeking hope

Through your children

You give gifts

Undeserved

Unearned

To those

Who have

Nothing to offer

Except themselves

Such as they are

Gifted and yet

Unused

Directionless

With a hole

In their soul

Longing to be filled

A gulf

A wound to be closed

When it is joined

And healed

By your hands

That created all things

That bring justice

That stretch wide

To welcome us

Home

That paid our debt

Our brother’s and sister’s

Too

You long to call us

Family

To call us children

To give us our

Inheritance

And all of this

Comes to pass

When you fill that

Eternal gulf

In our soul

With you
Titus Andronicus, Of Mercy and Vengeance – Oct. 26, 2009



- Written as an answer for a class blog question in my Introduction to Shakespeare class at Barstow Community College (B.C.C.).



Mercy and kindness, you know them not

Queen Tamora this vengeance your heart will rot

Poison tongue and cruel plans manipulate your offspring

Your webs and intrigues lead into each deadly offing



Vengeance is your guide and goad

You’ve sent your sons down a deadly road

There is no hope of turning back

Rises the crimson tide and the corpses stack



Titus’ regret and irretrievable actions

Stoking vile fires of Gothic passions

Silence enforced at the end of a sword

Lavinia’s beauty left unguarded by her dead ward



Sweetest mercy and healing kindness

Lost forever in a vengeful blindness

Eternal rest left out of reach

Peace and forgiveness cruel heart can’t breach



All could’ve been prevented

Had Titus just relented

Shallow Humanity

Shallow Humanity – June 06,2011



In my shallow humanity

I could easily relinquish all my hope

My weak and fickle heart screams

Give it up you foolish weakling!



For just a little while wallow

Knee deep in my own private party

Reveling in the exquisite pain of it

This private dance with pity



But you won’t leave me there

You dog my every step

Nipping at the heels of my heart

Scared and blinded by my cares



Temporarily these cares bring amnesia

Forgetting all that you have spoken

To my heart through your Word

Drawing a spiritual blank,



I stumble



But my soul cannot forget

The things you have etched on my heart

Your promise to never leave or forsake

Though I stand separate, I am never alone



You are a miracle that never ends

A mystery that I must know

The hope that never leaves me alone

The joy that rises from the dark



Carry me to the finish line

Stand at my side and help me see this through

Hold my hand as I stand

To face life’s inevitable storms



Fill my heart with joy that overflows

Fill my soul with peace that calms those around me

Be the depth and breadth that are not my own

Erase my shallowness with your infinite all in all