Open Heart Surgery

I lay me down beneath thee Lord-

My heart an open wound.

Gnarled and debris-ed 

filled- gravel and shards

Barely beating for You

Untouchable of flesh 

yet not from light

It melts

Grain by grain- glass by glass

Washing what was 

In blood-

Redeemed

Wandering

Simply to this cross-
I am clinging for nothing else
sufices, the wind and the
water rise with deep power
and blur what lies ahead
so many faces I see
the sounds are many I hear
Father, they are apart from you.
Ring out
before my ears-  shake my
drum until it bursts, splinter
me with the cross that I may bear
its markings
may it never fall from
my shoulders- I will stumble,
yes. but a servant I am, a quitter You
made me not, until
Glory when I shall
collapse- breathless and prostrate
at Your feet
lead mine to seek Yours
our prints becoming one

New Bench Discoveries

The frog, it bellows loudly
come dusk- the firefly
its glow is here-is there
and crickets they mur
and echo among the concrete
solid and traveled. such stories
it should tell through choruses
of nature nestled
in patches-cracks
and hallows. many years
have heard but an eye has never seen
the sounds they come
from many
intwined and twittled
a symphony of one

A Prayer for Morgan

Father will you take us
against Your chest
we cannot walk alone
let not our mouths be false and empty
and our hands Your only home-
take us
against your chest
carry us
each in one arm-
safe and warm
loved and satisfied
that we may
hold each other
against Your chest

A Stolen Life

Let me be a shadow-

Luring in love and lavishly pure

Build me and fold

Cut and combine me

Tedious and taxing

Until I, on this dim gravel spot

Shall be your image-

A shadow of Your light

The Man Part Six: Bosom

Can I rest here,

I plead,

in the bosom

of this-

perhaps I can

nuzzle further-

if you allow.

The fingertips along 

my back, tightly wound

and white- knuckled

are sweaty and slowly slipping

Do not let me go! I shout

into your bosom's base

I sob but do not feel 

the tears-  attached they stay

to your skin,

where shall they go-

if the hands should let

me go

my mind feels this is right

that time is long 

overdue

but my heart it

 shutters and heaves

and collides with the past, 

I know this bosom

I rest has made me

well and strong- this little girl, 

never planned to be, 

has become much,

you see, 

arrived with a beating drum

that never ceased to play

booming

ba-rum-ba-rum

the melody that grew her,

shaped her like clay

and moved her feet, 

like sea grass along the Atlantic shore,

to dance

a marvelous and lasting dance

she shall never droop, it seems

or be withered through and through

a rose among the forest shadows

above them, she sways

flitted and flittered

her self reaches

far beyond these

soft bosom walls

He who planned has not 

mistaken

time alarms, hands release

beyond the bosom,

He calls

I, The Man, must

go

The Man Pt 5: Chains

The Man Part Five: Chains

My feet no longer shall drag beneath me-
Release these roots that have grown me from the dirt
And though my toes forever be filthy- bent- and rotten
The flesh I have come to loathe- take it
Release me from this ditch- I weep-
A bent knee is the least of me, oh Father, let me dance
As tears and sweat fall together- never returning to where they fall
But even in the whistle of my hair- music for all to hear- see me
Set around me an angry crowd, let them spit and shout- rhythm to my feet
Join me then, take my hand- in stride we must go
Bind me in your hand, attach my feet to yours- for we shall dance together
Darkness chains me no more-