rip all these masks away
tear the veil from my heart today
i could not have more to say
but to beg grace to break the dark that lay
on my eyes and let me see the Way

in the silence before the light
i have wept into the night
crying out for what i cannot name
all those tears only You could clain
as You poured every drop in that sea of forgetfulness
but the mask i've put over all my tears
still chokes me with these fears

i have pretended to be strong
behind this mask for so long
till where i sought communion
i find only my own disunion
like Peter on Galilee i look away
but now i see You on the other side of the veil
may we join hands - help me through this gale

and now the mask that shielded my blind eyes
the veil that covered my lies
has been torn away, thrown away
drowned in the deep sea of Your heart

2 February 2000

if you want the boundaries and the barriers broken -
then why do you dare to set limits upon My love?
the love of Jesus, the love that I pour out like the rain -
it falls on the just and even the wicked.
remember what has been so boldly proclaimed...
love - My love - always trusts -
always protects - always perseveres -
does not find fault!
so - do not make Me to be a liar -
if you are in Me,
you cannot, must not, and will not love
with any less than the same
reckless abandon
with which I have loved you.

10 May 2000

if your heart can still be broken
by that barest whiff of God,
by one jewel of His garment -
then He will still call to you,
still carry you,
and welcome your broken prodigal soul
to lean upon His breast
breathe in His spirit
and hear His heart

31 July 2000

you ripped the flute from the throat of the loon
who is better off not singing anyway
cuz you never liked the sound of her voice
even when you said you wanted her
it must not have been to talk after all
and you broke her wings when you broke her heart
crazy bones sticking out boy you left a mess
for some other stupid soul to clean up
while the echoes of you still tear up anyone close enough
but if birds don't live so long tell me what am i doing now

where does a bird on the hand go
when the hand slaps her out of the sky
i think she limps to the moss-hung swamp
if she gets picked up it's only the next
demigod to slam her down for just another
sparrow couldn't make it as a songbird
till she drowns in her own mucky feathers
and it's only right she ain't good enough anyway
and you knew better than to give a damn
must be the birds don't live so long
cuz the fox in her vineyard got his one sweet taste

Hunter, Gathering

once i was stirred
like these pines in the wind
as that celestial hunter
laid hold, cocked, pulled back
and sent me from his bow

and these reckless winds
drove me aside, drove me down -
the hunter took up his cloak
searched out his lost arrow
and wept to find her
broken - aimless - grounded

Orion cleared his eyes
threw off his cloak
and the broken arrow
found necessary
with grace was lifted and shot forth anew

4 March 2001 - Feliciana Retreat Center - Norwood, Louisiana - 13 October 1993

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