Time to Cry

My thoughts betray me.
Much silence
Lends to sorrow
And sorrow
Seeks something
To dull the blade
To reduce my wails
To whimpers.

Where is comfort?

My ears fill with noise
The static of life
Which diverts pain.
But its value is fleeting.
Pain from within
May be delayed
But never denied.

There must be time to cry.

So I give myself to silence
That silence might produce
A weight of sorrow
That sorrow fulfilled
Might work within
The peculiar satisfaction
That I have not slighted
The crying pain
Which knows my frame
And calls name.

Brother Michael *

Brother Michael
How I miss you.
How I ache in memory
Of every day we
Shared together
And the love you gave to me.

You were, Michael
A devoted brother
Also a cherished friend
But time expired
And you left us.
Our time together came to end.

How I grieved you
Brother Michael
Yet steadfast in my heart.
How I loved you
Brother Michael
Every day since we did part.

But you left
The path before me
Every twist and narrow turn
From the point
Of your departure
The cool of night or noontime burn.

I took up the cross
That you lay down.
I accepted your unfinished task.
All these years
And decades later
I still do what Jesus asks.

Brother Michael
Please wait for me
Just inside inside the open gate.
I will see you
When death takes me.
I’ll not be one minute late.

* Michael was my very best friend all through high school.
He loved God, and was well beyond his years in devotion and
wisdom. He was not just a friend. He was a mentor, and a
brilliant teacher. Michael died a month before our graduation.
Before he died of inoperable cancer he challenged me to live
my life for the Lord. I've tried to be true to my promise.
His memory is still dear to me. I wish you could have known him.
Maybe one day I'll get to introduce you to him. The closer I get
to leaving here, the more defined the far shore seems.

And Forever, Too

Ask and I will bring you the horizon.
The panoply of stars is yours.
I will fetch the dawn
And lay before you
The sweetness of creation.

The notes of symphonies
I will fashion into gold for you.
Melody will attend you
And poetry celebrate your footfall.

Yours are the shimmering Auroras.
Your path will be lit with song
And joy will comfort you.

This is yours
And forever, too...

If you will lift your eyes to mine.

Embarkation

I dwell among the desolate
In the feral fierceness
And wild shadow
Of rock and dune.

Chambray skies weep light
And creation is baked
In torrents
Of radiance.

This rawness
Is embarkation
Where all begins
Whose endings are transient.

Sound has no meaning here.
There is but the aroma
Of baked sands
And visions of shimmering mirage.

I receive the ardor
Of this intentionality.
Every small creature has purpose here.
Even me.

Old Age

I breathe sun
And exhale frost.
I think rum
But taste milk.

Age is contradiction.

Experience suggests competency
But society thinks me frail
My mind foggy
My body irrelevant.

It used to frustrate me.
Now I smile
Content with these truths:

Nothing about me requires proof.
Those I care for know my value.

Bland is first a state of mind
Becoming habit only with practice.

To the frozen any warmth is welcome.

If the mind cannot accompany the body
It doesn’t matter where the body dwells.

If the body is immobile
Everything is possible in the mind.

Let winter come.
The fire blazes in my hearth
As well as in my belly.
I welcome old age.
It is, after all, always one year older
Than I am.