“I may stumble along the way
But I have chosen to live this way
If I do anything with my life
I will be a fool for Christ
Take a moment to think it through
And ask yourself, Who’s fool are you?”
May 2009
33 posts
rt. 40 jam
me laid out in shadetree
ecstacy with five strings
and a stick, a pickin’
in whatever key the song-
birds call out, a givin’
them horseflies somethin’
to dance to, a grinnin’
sly ‘cause them cityfolk
with their big cars (a zoomin’
up, down the road so fast
i can’t tell which) and Frequency
Modulation Rados’re a listenin’
for so-many wrong notes.
Oh Yeshua.
How, how can I love you — look you in the eyes and say so, while you look at the eyes of my heart and see they are fastened on the stranger trotting past us?
So quickly I forget the pain and tears you’ve kissed away — having suffered yourself, you said, “Hush, I have been there, and have overcome…” and
for a moment I close my lips and eyes and absorb your perfect cast-out-fear love, then here I am again.
Jaded? No — for you are renewed and you renew day by day.
Complacent? I wish not, but fear it is true.
My soul’s eyes delight in you alone. What can a stranger provide that you have not created?
Magnify the Lord oh my soul.
whispered words and iron cages
chords play, notes weaving bars
clanging, chiming
notes crumpled
fall flat
rise and hit and pitch
and stick
half and whole notes
sound and hold and
quarter me
moving
music freezes
me in time
as you sing
and I shake
as you change the key
The City
The foul smell is overrun by the scent
Of your hair and of your neck
It’s something that I didn’t ever expect
Would happen but you’ve put blinders on me
And the city doesn’t look as dirty as it did before.
The sight of you, backlit by a million office lights
Their glow stretches out from your skin
Giving you an entire body halo from within
Hand in hand we make our way back to my flat
And the city doesn’t feel as lonely as it did before.
For once, slow motion settles in and I begin
To feel the way the books and movies say I will
“We were infinite,” I quote, now louder still
And I hold you tighter in my arms to fend off the cold
And the city doesn’t move as quickly as it did before.
I can see nothing but the shape of your face
Everything else has been blocked from my vision
The nearness of your soul becomes legend
And I want to stay in this space forever
And the city doesn’t seem as large as it did before.
The cacophony of a million residents
Is something that I can’t even hear
When you’re whispering secrets in my ear
I want to listen to everything you ever have to say
And the city doesn’t scream as loudly as it did before.
The radiance of your smile lights up my eyes
It becomes a lonely beacon in the dead of night
And the only thing that is worth the sight
In the crisp autumn evening air
And the city doesn’t look as dark as it did before.
Listen
A song my friends and I made to show the demise of a skunk one fateful night.
Poor Skunk Chant
Speak to Me
Speak to me
In waves and crashes,
Speak to me
In oaks and years.
Speak to me
In rhythms and tones
Speak to me
In whispers and rhymes
Slow to listen;
Quick to speak (I’ve been so)
Slow to listen;
Quick to speak
Catch me in the waves and crashes,
Down by the oaks and layers.
Beckon me in a whisper
Or under a melody, word, or duel
Speak to Me, I am ready to listen.
