Easter

The earth roils with sadism and greed
Children, it is my gift to you

Empires and madmen
Interviewed and published by cowards

All the while the sun is not darkened
Every day burning into Easter

The foot of a minor out-building,
I am crushed (if only for a time)

Looking up, I am freed, for
Self-pity is the son of arrogance

May the capstone shine,
Its importance discovered

Forest Floor

Come out come out all my long time friends While the woodsmen announce their swim And the full moon calls those forest sounds Our laughter will be one of them Build the flames up higher And let your voices roar Come with me outside tonight And dance on the forest floor Well the trees are redeemed my long time friends And they're waiting for a chance to sing Once there was pain on this ancient road But the trees have burried it Come out come out my long time friends And raise your hands to the sky The namer of the stars is out So why'd you want to sit inside? Listen for the ping of the brown haired bat. We're gonna see the barn owl fly We're gonna watch them dance that chase tonight We're gonna watch the white mist rise

Why Wait

All of us share one common thread
Live in this world of walking dead
If the sun comes out another day Then I say
Why wait? Why wait?

Oh, why wait?
The sun is out and I say let's celebrate
You sit inside a darkened place
But mercy shines and I say why wait?

I had a son named Isaac
Just a moment he was here
And then it was an alter
Where worship met with fear
Then I saw a dove
Come down with holy light
A sign over the One
Who deserves your ear tonight

I hiked a mountain with the son I love
Went there to leave him alone in the mud
Then my joy surprised me when it came
And I said why wait? why wait?

I've heard of fire in a the burning brush
But when I saw it my voice spoke up
I said oh God that lamb is life to me
That lamb will die, and I'll walk away free

Marked

I'm sorry
I have to tell you who I really am
Who?
He has spoken to me
Who?
The One who makes me tremble
The only One I bow to

Flowers open as he walks
The deep stone rumbles his name
I was frozen in pale wonder
When his voice came

Close as my breath
And I knew it!
Older than dream memory
New as the scent of mountain laurel
And melted snow

Life and doom to the world
His mark is on me

Eis Tin Poli (In the City)

Is The Cloven City ever one?
Won and blinded
Pastirma coated crumbling catacombs

Alluvium of the ancients
The patient settling of lore
Writhing desire climbing

I am yours says the
Capital of ambitions
Nova Roma's bronze eye signs

The wave of heavy lashes
Beaconing, teaching, reaching
An earth-soaked Leonardo

Too far, fleeting seat of money power
Raki toasted towers
Out-shouting steeple hours

Spiraling castle
Now domination's boasting basket
Blinking Bedouins' Caesar seat

Dusty facets shatter to dark quarter tones
Bright Bosporus the color of sweet basil in lamb
Blue-grey blood enriched with age

That Lamb
Stretched as it is
Rings with His destiny of consumption

Striped Skunk

As dead flies give perfume a bad smell,
so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor


If wisdom named my days
If my name gave day to high ways
Yet a highway's magic stretch
Plus one insidious carcass
Lengthens journey-weariness

I gave it not a thought
starting skinny, toothless, blind
But now arrayed in black
With ghost white forking lines

Digging secret nests
Nightly lurking dark
Infest a pre-existing earth wound
Repulsive mark

Last week's vision burned
My soul had ears, moving
Like hail's percussive dance
Where does boredom hail from

Mephitis mephitis
From tongue to tail eight hands
A brood of three to nine
Inside a season's span

As a highway's magic stretch
Yields to one small carcass
Forgetting dogwood buds
A trace of folly overfloods
Wisdom, honor, courage

Autumn

I squint into bright waves, last of their kind
But somehow those rays burn contentment
The shadows roll and cover my head
Solemn like a judge reads a sentence


We cannot hold those last few rays
Through clever art or reason
Some will see an endless Spring
But none can stop the seasons


I release a laugh with all that is green
A redtail shout--sad but hearty
Our radiant sphere visits less these days
Leaving early for some distant party


Pumpkins linger a few more days
like strangers at a wedding
With color's memoirs kept away
By summerend's rainless setting


One loyal maple tributes gold
With a song too soft to mention
The High King lifts His golden bow
Just a pause to build the tension

Leonids

Falling upon us
Like God’s arias
Like spirit showers
These meteors

A doubtless promise
The end of war
Shaking the soul
Such fire, so cold

Falling upon me
As we fall like leaves
Shaken in our souls
By crushing words of gold
Leonids paint the night
Mysterious design
Like the gilded book of Kells
Stealing souls from Hell itself

How can one see this
Without sensing
Nature’s designer—
Artist, Father?

A doubtless promise
The end of war
Shaking the soul
Such fire, so cold


Notes:
Seeing the Leonid Meteor Shower was one of the most amazing experiences I've had. It was a cold night. We were up on Afton Mountain away from the city lights. It was like an enormous, God-made fireworks show.

Snowstorm

There goes my love, a snowstorm
Her wispers peal a nocturn
A cold kiss--my soul is warm
My love, a snow storm

The trail before us turns to white
Sound is softened by the night
The moon's master bids him rest
Stars hide in happiness

Softened light, a dusting sound
The streets are quiet all around
A hundred paths delight my eyes
A double trail we leave behind

With joy we track my Father's house
Many windows send light out
Many rooms await his sons
Warmed by the Holy One

Song for Ehren and Jen

I see an image on each head-
(Is it the Creator's breath?)
The mystery within each face
The holiness of every race

Life is breaking on the poor
Like waves beat our New England shore
I dare to think that God would run
To be a shield to even one

I'll send out a message to You
So bright so alive
So true
Oh change us. Make our city new
You are as the sky and I,
A silver drop of rain,
Fall, Fall to the earth

Give me a mountain so cold
Where I could look upon this world
So I could lift them up to You
As morning lifts the fallen dew

Perfect gifts are from above
And You have given me my love
Together we will make Your name
Like sunrise in this darkened place

I'll send out a message to You
So bright so alive
So true
Oh change us. Make our city new
You are as the sky and I,
A silver drop of rain,
Fall, Fall to the earth

Notes: Ehren and Jen refuse to be molded by this world, in which so many place a lower value on people who are different from themselves. Given half the chance, Ehren and Jen will slip off to the ocean or into the mountains. They love the early morning hours.

I'll Make You Hope

It’s nights like these they’d come
Flat sea sharp moon
Long boats landing
Come to take the children

He was no more than a boy
Cut from his home
Shaved head; working;
A slave’s isolation

Months on end alone
To watch the herds
One night a voice spoke
And Patrick listened

I am the one who knows you
I am the one you’ll know
I made these hills you see and
I’ll make you hope

Visions of a tall ship
And a simple message: Go
Distant seagulls were
The next voice that spoke

He was carried from Ireland
Back to his British home
Never to leave again
His parents hoped

But one night in his dreams
A slave trader screamed
Patrick, help us!
We need the One who speaks:

I am the one who knows you
I am the one you’ll know
I made these hills you see and
I’ll make you hope

Notes: about St. Patrick of Ireland

Six 8

Six 8: six out of seven days roll on
And you’re yelling at the top of your forked lung
The thing that scares me most
Is that you don’t see
Beside this drunken road is an oak tree
An oak tree
It’s the truth
Smack

Jeremiah wrote that we’re not forgotten
This summer’s turning out to be a hot one
Got me jumping for a big life time commitment

Six 8: six out of seven days go by
And the seventh could well be the day someone dies
If that’s not enough to make you think then listen to me
If this world’s a dream then I’ll take reality


Comments:
Charlottesville was living it up in one big pluralistic party. And I was going in a different direction.

Spotlight

Blackened light bulb
In a night club
You like to joke around
Never lighting up the ground

In the daylight
You just close your eyes
Cry
Seems like
Another year’s gone by

But I
See you
In a world so new
With friends who’ve got more
Than a trap door
On the stage of life
I see you more as a spotlight

Gehört jemand Zu Christus,
dann ist er ein neuer Mensch.
Was vorher war
ist vergangen,
etwas Neues
hat begonnen.

Why’s it seem like
You’re always “go” when it comes
To the world

But a thousand ideas so right
Are met with red
Like a traffic light

And you seem to
Eat the same food every day
At the very same time,

But I
See you
In a world so new
With friends who’ve got more
Than a trap door
On the stage of life
You’ll point the world to the playwright

Translation of German:If anyone belongs to Christ, He is a new man. What was before is gone. Something new has begun

Frieden

Frieden

I spend these waking hours
Almost in paradise
I won't get down tonight
Cause there's another life. I can

Almost hear your wealth like a
Fast train to somewhere else. My
Brother it's good to see you
Don't hold back your stories either

Frieden

I've
Seen fantasy coming
Out the TV I'd
Like to bust it in 'cause it's
Not as good as freedom. I...

I spend these waking hours
Almost in paradise
I won't get down tonight 'cause
Brother, there's another life

Frieden

Ihr habt in mir Frieden
In der Welt habt ihr Drangsal
aber seid guten Mutes
ich habe die Welt
Überwunden

They ask how I can hope in a
World with so much smoke
I've got one foot on the earth
And the other on what the prophets wrote

Translation from the German:
Peace
In me you have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
(John 16:33)

Compassion

Sunny kitchen window
Beams the dining room
So clean and yet
A heaviness
Is here this afternoon

One by one I share my memories
A picture at a time
Part of me died when I met those refugees
And some part was alive

Pictures of the children
Clinging to my heart
Like they held onto my hand
When it was time to part

I left them in that grey dusk
I left them in their fear
That dirty building held them there
So far away from here

The Maker isn't satisfied
To sit back and observe
He hears the pain in every voice
Compassion in his words

In some small way I'll take that lead
To feel another's pain
Something so human about sympathy
We were made that way

Like a summer night and a front porch seat
That's where I'm supposed to be

One Word

She sat there like royalty
Rings and fine clothes
Joy on her wrinkled nose

Authority flowed from her
Bright sunlight from
A forest roof in Autumn

Why do you live like you do?
Because my King told me to
One word from him
One word
Is my road, my mind, my finish line

Happy is he
Who knows the King
And obeys him

He does not fear enemies
He fears not the night
He sings like the innocent might

Though his dark path may be
More than he thinks he can
Stand in the strength of man

Still he stands strong
Rivers of hardship
Flowing around him

Peaceful

There's something about this that makes me hungry Makes me want a little more And there's something about that little Makes the world seem poor Well I'm talkin' about A brush with my Lord It's as peaceful as a train going by Peaceful like a Saturday night I feel the rumble deep inside Deep as the sky > Er hat vielle Kraft > Allmächtig und heilig > Er hat alle Macht > Entschlossen und Rein > > Er hat vielle Kraft > Friedlich, geduldig > Er hat alle Macht > Entschlossen und Rein It's a bareback gallop at twilight Less controlled than your life ahead Skin feeling like a duck plucked bare and That's how I'm led. I'm talking about A brush with my Lord Translation from the German: He has much strength, Almighty and holy He has all might Purposeful and pure He has much strength Peaceful, patient He has all might Purposeful and pure

He Saw Cinders

He saw cinders (He was quite a pretender)
The inadvertent form of a man with no hands
He concentrated, his breath abated
No sleep for him in this land where the mean ones dance

Without a sound, without a doubt. Out
Words from his spirit. His Father could hear it and neared
As in a mirror closer than he appeared
He said, "my son, you must not fear"

Warrum seid ihr furchtsam, Kleingläubige?
Ich bin es doch! Habt keine Angst
Ich werde euch ein Vater sein und ihr werdet mir Söhne sein
Warrum seid ihr furchtsam, Kleingläubige?

His voice, a bell of rusty metal
You could hear it crack the lazy air
When he took to task the voice of Hell
They tell a block away, clear as day, they could hear his faith

He spoke of love stronger than all the world's hunger
Inexhaustible light not afraid to fight
He spoke of wrong; He spoke of Right in spite of
Wicked men telling him that's the only sin

Translation from the German:
Why are you so fearful, you of little faith?
Indeed, it is I! Have no fear.
I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons
Why are you so fearful, you of little faith?

Notes:
Staring into the fireplace and contemplating. Powerless to change the world? …or the kind of person who would go up to that 7'0" dude preaching in religious garb at the downtown mall and confront him with the Truth?

Races

Indecency
Horror
Brought us together
Greed and abuse
Changed your life forever
Now our histories
Are mingled
A tradegy
Of real people
Our heritage
Can never more be simple

Outer Space

Do you ever run out of the things That make you happy? Do you ever run out of money? Do you ever see the world with its wars and warlords And say this really isn’t very funny As if the earth lost all its gravity It’s lost all its appeal Nothing holds you to this ground At least that’s how I feel And there’s the pull of something up above The completion of some unfinished love song Like you found the place you only dreamed of Besides you’ve been everywhere but up But it’s a cold day in outer space It’s been light years I think Since I’ve seen my favorite face

Stone

You’ve worked hard All your life You’ve worked hard to get Where you are You have friends of the right kind You always shoot below par Too bad your heart is like rock Your heart is a stone You’re heart is darker than a Blind man’s room with the lights on You look as happy as a Man with money Your sour words are Sweet as honey

Between two Golden Walls

There's a creek that moves among the trees
Like fire in the Fall
They guard that stream as royalty
Between two golden walls

I have grown to love your words
I've leaned to love your law
They guard me like that mountain stream
Between those golden walls

I throw my heart on the alter there
And I trust he hears my call
Like the stream is heard in an endless song
Between those golden walls

There's a rock in that bed yet rough to touch
Washed over night and day
As long as it stays in the stream
The water smooths its face

The streams of grace move over me
As I live within your laws
Like the stones are washed with an endless flow
Between those golden walls

I Know You’ve Been There

I don’t understand the differences, Lord
I don’t understand the walls between me and him
But one thing I know for sure, you’re the maker of everything,
Everything

And I don’t understand what’s holding my friend down
Don’t understand what forces weigh
And I don’t know what force is equal to but mass and
Acceleration

But I know that you made those laws
And I know you see us
Know your ear’s not deaf towards my cry
And I know you care

I know You’ve been there

My friend almost choked as he looked up
At the sun so sick with haze
But the quick words from his mouth were
God has me

And as we sat in an awkward circle of hope
Staring dumb with a few words to mumble
Some of us guessed it’s in times like this that men
Turn to their Maker

And we knew You were there

You led me across the downs
Where the lonely thistle stays
And stones are piled in forgotten beauty which has waited
And still waits

And though the days alone have left
A wound so deep I still sink sometimes,
I have been given freedom and depth to
Strengthen brothers

And I know You’ve been there


Notes: A friend who had to make some tough decisions after recently losing his father