Month: October 2008

Tomorrow is All Saint’s Day

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Tomorrow is All Saint’s Day
and Patrick comes to mind
 
slave of Eire
salve of Christ
pours healing
on the Emerald
till the snake departs
from broken hearts
and the triune God
                will sing
these children are mine
crazed sons and daughters
                           shine
and dance before me
 
tomorrow is All Saint’s Day
and Patrick comes to mind

I Am Blind

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Mum said –
don’t look into the sun
you’ll go blind
 
and
 
I did my best
 
but
 
I looked into the sun
 
and
 
maybe I was blinded
 
but
 
that’s ok
’cause all I see now
is the sun
 
and
 
if I’m gonna be blind
I’m glad it’s the sun
that’s all I see
 
for
 
I’m beauty-burned
and sun-turned
and blind
 
I am blind

Tinmen in the Rain

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what do you do
when the needed ones
become needful
and the empty ones
become full
 
will the pouring hands
shake
when the overflow spills
anticipating un-necessity
 
when the doers are done
will they build into themselves
                       or
will gears grind
while the shine dulls
and they become
Tinmen in the rain
 
who will bring the oil
when the clockwork winds down
and pendulum swings no more
mute witness
of past purpose
                      and
purpose past

Do Not Go Gentle

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This is the second of two poems I promised to post. Entitled ‘Do Not Go Gentle’ it was written by the poetic genius Dylan Thomas in 1951 for his dying father when he was 37-years-old. Thomas died at the age of 39.
 

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Death Be Not Proud

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As per a promise I made here is the first of two poems by two poetic giants. This one is a sonnet by John Donne and was written more than 400 years ago.
 
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou are not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou'art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy'or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

Random Notes

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Ok – a few random notes.

First – is it ok that I REALLY want to see Clint Eastwood’s upcoming movie Gran Torino? I just watched the trailer and must confess it looks like the old days of Dirty Harry. I can’t help but think that there’s a twist to this one though. Eastwood is really a brilliant actor/director. The trailer is here: http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/grantorino/large.html

Second – Caleb (my youngest son) and I were playing with a superball outside church today when he bent down and picked something up. He came to me holding a bolt and he said in complete seriousness "hey dad, look what I found, I think it’s either a wallace or a grommit." Classic.

Third – My Christmas Dream list has grown ridiculously worldly and currently includes the following:

– Fallout 3 (Xbox 360)
– Fable 2 (Xbox 360)
– Bioshock 2 (Xbox 360)
– Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360)
– Mario Kart (Wii)
– Batman: The Dark Knight (DVD)
– The Incredible Hulk (DVD)
– the new Kindle from Amazon
– Soviet Kitsch, Regina Spekor CD

If it helps balance things out I also want The Archeological Study Bible from Zondervan and the complete New International Commentary of the Old Testament and New International Commentary of the New Testament.

Flower’s End

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There is a process
they say
where a flower
can grow
and over time
die
 
the leaves, the petals
and the sun within
decompose
and turn to carbon
 
then
under pressure
coal emerges
 
then
under pressure
a diamond
 
such beauty
from the crushing
 
like all that was left
was the light
the cold, clear light of
flower’s end

Self-Worth

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Value. How do we cram value into the lives of the people we love? I have thought about this off and on now for years because it is one of the central aspects of life in community. Our sense of self-worth is critical to our health and place in the community we exist in, be it the community of believers, our community of friends, our work, our school, our marriage – whatever.
 
Ultimately a lasting strong sense of value cannot come from outside of us. It cannot depend upon the people around us because our community exists to affirm what is already there. The community of Christ values the Spirit of God within. It cannot value that Spirit in the other if it is absent from the other otherwise our sense of value, given by the community is based upon a lie – and surely this is not good.
 
But how are we to value the world than? There is no spirit within the world. Then we value the image of God, broken though it is, within the world around us. We value the world because God values the world. It needs to do nothing to earn this…it is already done.
 
The greatest barrier to relationship is a deep and inherent sense of worthlessness; an impoverishment of value. We are tempted to look at God and say "Why do you love me? I am worthless and my mere presence would soil you." We are tempted to say to the community "Why do you love me I offer you nothing in return?" We are tempted to say to our loved ones "I don’t understand why you love me and drag you down."
 
Ironically it is these kinds of comments that become the thin edge of the wedge between people and communities. Comments designed to gain a false sense of value simply ensure we never gain a real sense of value.
 
There is only One from whom we gain true value. When we try to speak value into the broken lives of the ones we love so we can "fix" them we can inadvertantly become the main obstacle to it. How? By injecting false value like a drug into their lives that they become addicted to. By building a sense of value based upon lies. Better to point the way through our own life lived in connection with God. This way we can accomplish the whole law. When we come to know God we learn that He loves us unconditionally. When we learn this we come to love ourselves unconditionally. This is important because if we don’t love ourselves we cannot love others and if we don’t love others we cannot fulfill the law which is:
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these."
 

Beauty is

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beauty is
like God’s breath
on a frozen window
a whitening lace
curling over glass
that I can melt
my handprint into
 
and yes
if I look
I might
          just
                see
the source

Pearl & Rock

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Pearl sits
in the eyeless, eyeless dark
and the Rock
runs deep nearby

Silent moves
a deepening empty arc
dreadful echoes
whispers stone sigh

Blind numb Rock
resting low beneath
holding pale Pearl
heavy as Atlas’ world

sit on salt and sand
and look to the bone white teeth
of a coral castle crumbling
signs of time unfurled

and there’s rough Rock
and there’s smooth Pearl
carved by self-same hand
faith and the father’s fortune