Still the Snow

_________________

Maybe I stay awake to write.

Maybe I write to stay awake.

Whatever it is

I hear the darkness

Tickle the belly of

The morning

Hoping

He’ll cry Mercy!

Mercy!

Why the dark

Every night?

Why the cold bed

And feet?

Still,

The snow

Reminds of God’s purity,

Of His unfailing devotion

To keeping us alive

Until

The night is

Complete.

--020810--

You Know Who You Are

_____________________________

- For my fellow Josephs


Eleven stars bowing down,
Sun and moon knelt before us.

There’s a sparkle in our crowns,
Our skin, transparent, porous.

Our brothers have betrayed us,
Traded our lives for pennies.

Piled high in rusty cages,
We knew no milk, no honey.

Lose not hope, slaves of Egypt;
Turn toward the sacred Morning.

His hands will unbind, free us.
God Himself will crown us kings.


--020310--

Breathing the Apocalips

_____________________________

We knew the trees would betray us.
We knew the Night would sing his song.

Oh, how Death has snuck up on us!
As quiet as a banging drum.

The land weeps slow and silent tears.
All hearts beating steady and strong.

Every pulse taps the melody,
As quiet as a banging drum.

Our blind eyes saw the cavalries,
Heard their voices shout, loud and long.

How we felt the deep blue tremble,
As gentle as a banging drum.

My, my, how our hearts disown us!
How they lust for youth and young, like

Whores screaming Infidelity!
As quiet as a banging drum.


--020210--

Khalaas!

__________

I draw lines in this white sand.

Mark my words with magic marker.

I'm not a man that I should change.

Not a god that I shouldn't need

to die.

Khalaas!*

I am already dead,

yet alive again.

__________

*Khalaas is an Arabic word meaning "enough, complete, it is finished."

--020210--

I Used to Love it Here

Went walking today.
Saw a ghost of a man
fishing beside the frozen
lake.

This wilderness is
cold, is aged, is
Winter at its finest.

I try to break the
bars, but the steel
won't give, my mind
neither bends.

And you know
what the tragedy is?
I used to love it here.

--020210--

Charis

________

For Ernyn

All these feelings

I can’t name

All this discontent

Too many folks

I could blame

But my back’s still bent

Far too much force

In this wrecking ball

How I long to stand

But I just fall

Oh, how I’m glad

To proclaim

Grace is not nameless

How love is not

Contingent

Upon performance

How God’s embrace

Has a face

Forever pointing

Toward

Us.

--012710--

Crawling In the Dark

Ever wondered where the title for this blog came from?

Click here for the answer.