Faith and Hope

And the bright stars found us again,
Waiting for the dawn.
And I've stood under these stars before,
With the love of the saints and their song.
I've stood on the foundation
And felt my heart beating
To the rhythm of the universe,
To the rhythm of the waves breaking on the shore,
To the rhythm of a breath
Breathing along with mine.

And I've stood under the rain
Of broken cisterns that can hold no water,
That could never hold any water.
And I've run from myself
And I've run from my King
And I've longed to return again
Because my heart is still beating—
It keeps pumping my blood.

And I've seen the daughters of men
Weeping with holes in their hearts
The size of a double-edged sword
Mistakenly wielded and turned within.
And I've seen pain become bitterness,
Where the broken and torn hearts fester
And never seem to catch enough of the healing water—
Could never hold the water that lives and breathes.

I've been there and seen these
And continue to stand there
Because I know.

And I'm confident
And I expect.
There's a new song coming
And a new dance to go with it.
There's a place where the day dawns
Into a bright blue sky,
Where my pain
And the pain of the ones I love
Burns away in the warmth
And washes away in the sweet dew
On the hills in the land
That we will call home.

And right now we have your love
And we have my love—
And your hands are with mine.
Blood still flows through our veins;
We still have the ground beneath our feet;
Our lungs still breathe in and breathe out.

I will never give in
To the worst of our fears.
I will never back down
From what I know is true.
I will find something beautiful
And nurture it back to life again.

Savior

A small grove of trees,

A white picnic bench,

And the line that runs from birth to eternity

Began to waver.

I think maybe we both saw it,

Me and the one I was with,

But maybe I was the only one

Who wanted to escape

From the undertow that would pull us under.

And I reached out a hand to say,

“I don’t have to be the only one.”

But as the waves crashed around

I felt no fingers wrap around my wrist.

The water rose up to my chin

When I was rescued from the tide,

But I was saved,

So I’m alive!

Can you imagine a sky made of bronze,

To be cloistered in under no exit,

No flight of the bird,

To watch hope fade away?

Can you see the heaviest of raindrops

On a wilted flower that was once beautiful?

Does beauty go away so easily

And does that lovely tree I remember

In the field of grace and compassion

Really fall away under the furnace heat of heaven?

I would save it if I could.

I sought a way to bring the wilted flower inside,

To maybe water it

With a more gentle shower of mercy.

But I had to let it go.

No, I can’t save,

But I’m alive!

So now I wonder about the birds

Who glide up into the air

Away from the approaching storm.

You showed me how to be free again,

To wander onto a new path,

Into a new field,

A meadow of such beauty

That reminded me again of what I am looking for.

You were there

And you are here with the stars

In the clear bright sky

Of amazing grace and a longing generation.

You showed me that maybe red eyes

Are just a sign of the love and hope

I could never complete on my own.

Only you can save,

And I’m alive!

So here we sit and here we stand,

Reading these lines

Again and again.

Here we are,

You and I,

Here together now

And here wondering about forever

And wondering about the past,

Considering if love this time or that time

Is ever the love that I talk about.

But I wonder, with all that happens,

Do you still hold to the notion

That you have nothing to regret?

What could I have to regret?

Every joy is joy

And every misery is learning.

I am here now and the road

Is made for this moment.

I am here with you now,

And so how could I ever take back anything

To keep me from you?

And so you have all those meadows journeyed

When you learned the meaning of love.

But would you take back those moments

When I called you

And you never picked up the phone?

Dear love, could I take it back?

Can I take back what I’ve done to you?

Can I not have the blood

On my hands

On my hair

Mixed with the dirt on the ground

And splashed on my legs?

Shall I give it back

For all of those nights it was just me

With selfish me

And I didn’t have the decency to listen

When you wanted to talk?

This wolf with blood on its teeth

Begins to look an awful lot like me.

Just rest now.

Here in the cool of fresh air

And here in the warmth of welcoming arms,

Just rest now.

No, you can’t give it back.

I won’t let you give it back.

It is free.

Life Was Just Happening

In a darker day,
In the pain and the sickness,
From underneath something scarred and torn
I can still see a light shining.

On nights when cold dreams
Blow through this sleepy town
And windowpanes shutter their last resistance,
I can still hear hope singing love's song.

And she has a voice so beautiful
That everyone stops to listen,
At least for a little while,
To the promise she mentions.

And I can't sleep
(How could I have slept?)
Until I meet her in the moonlight
And she smiles at me one more time.

Hope, where have you gone?
Hope, I can see you burning underneath.
This one is for you,
That maybe one day you’ll come home

And we will all have our hearts burst with light
And laughter that finds our new song for us.

To the Ends of the Earth and beyond

A few weeks ago, I wrote the following poem:


To the Ends of the Earth

Where is a promise when you need one?
Where runs assurance when you desire
Strength and mercy of heart?
It arises like dawn upon the ends of the earth.

When the world flooded,
Did the ocean waves feel redeemed?
Or did they always know the tide's rise and fall
Would one day break beyond the shore's barrier?

When rainbows color the sky,
Isn't the rain given a chance
To celebrate beauty
As well as to bring life to the dust below?

Aren't cloudy days the most joyful of all,
When a promise of refreshment seems imminent?
Do raindrops believe in the ocean they came from,
Or do they just enjoy faithfully sliding on their downward paths?

Is it wrong at all to raise your hands and face upward
In both rainfall and sunshine?
The light on the horizon - it is coming.
The bursting morning is arriving soon, surely you will run with me there.

*******
...And so I figured it was a decent poem, but didn't really put much stock in it. After I finished, I opened my bible and flipped to what I thought was going to be a random passage. And I would have thought so, had it not addressed the questions I had just asked, continuing the thought. The passage is Isaiah 41. Here are the first few verses:

"Coastlands, listen to Me in silence,
And let the peoples gain new strength;
Let them come forward, then let them speak;
Let us come together for judgment.
Who has aroused one from the east
Whom He calls in righteousness to His feet?
He delivers up nations before him
And subdues kings.
He makes them like dust with his sword,
As wind-driven chaff with his bow.
He pursues them, passing on in safety,
By a way he had not been traversing with his feet.
Who has performed and accomplished it,
Calling forth the generations from the beginning?
'I, Yahweh, am the first, and with the last. I am He.'"