POETRY ARCHIVES

SONG FOR THE JUBILEE
Deuteronomy 30:19-20

Choose life
for you and for your children
that every generation to come
will have the chance to choose in turn.
Choose life
and let no hatred lurk
within your heart of hearts:
let go, that we might weave new bonds
made of love, not fear.
Choose life
and lift your voice in joyful hope,
not in anger.  Sing God's praise
to a godless world. Fill
this empty existence with jubilation.
Do not despair, but laugh
at all the world's absurdities, and let
your laughter shake apart
the walls that people build
to hide themselves from truth.

THE PATIENT LOVER

How many seconds do I spare You, my Lord?
How many minutes out of every day?
I pass through life dreaming, grumbling,
hoping, hating, hurting, wanting
and do I even once in every hour
turn my thoughts towards You?
I spare so little time for You
yet You are always there
every minute, every second
in the middle of my hurry
in the middle of my dreaming
You are there, now and forever
always patiently waiting for me
to set my heart on its way home.

THE GREATEST COMMANDMENTS Matthew 22:35-40

My God, I have not heart enough to love You
for how can any human heart contain
Infinity, when it so little room has made
for merely human souls?
So break this heart a thousand times
a thousand different ways, until I learn
that love cannot command, control, or bind
and that I can only live to treasure
every scrap You toss my way.
Then having hungered without fill
I may be wise enough to trade
this bleeding heart for one of fire
no matter what the pain.
Then with Your own heart I'll love You
that Your true life may fill these veins
and flood my soul to overflowing
that I might spill Your love out on the world.

AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS

On an altar of wood a man hangs dying
to buy the Kingdom with His own blood.
At the foot of the cross a woman is crying
for her heart is pierced by the self-same sword.

Look well at her face, and see her sorrows:
behold the handmaid of the Lord!
glorified through her humility:
she is the ark of the Living Word.

Now the King rules over all creation
and the woman is crowned with stars.
The dragon roars, but the King protects her
for she is His mother, and ours.

He will not let the serpent touch her
for His is the heel that crushes sin
and blessed is she, who among all women
is praised by angels and loved by men

PETITIONS

Christ, be the light of my life
that I might see through the fog of doubt
that all my choices may stand out in black and white

Christ, be the flame in my heart
burn all my sins away
refine my soul in the fire of your love

Christ, be my guiding star
that I might set my course by you
and never sail astray

Christ, be my foundation
and if all my work should crumble
I would still have all I need.