A Penitent Prayer

Lord you have given us more than we need

More than we deserve

And all of yourself. 

Our ways are not your ways

Though in our hearts we hear you. 

You tell us what you'll do with us

You tell us what you've done for us. 

You wait for us. 

You watch over us. 

You love us. 

Until we see you, Until we hear you. 

How can we repay you for this?

How can we comprehend this?

How could we comprehend you?

In the depth of our soul you're there

You already know 

You're already aware

Aware of ourselves, our time

Our days, our purpose. 

So beautifully you weave out our days

Forgive us and put us where we need to be. 

To say what needs to be said 

To give what needs to be given

To love, and love and love again

Until nothing is left unspent. 

You show us Lord, as much as we resist

How you will build us up 

If only to make us never to doubt you again

And you always do it again. 

Compelling us to stand, or sit, or kneel in awe

Breathless And helpless 

With glad arms upraised 

And heavy heads held low. 

Amen

A Rhyme for Anyone

[direction] [street name]

Got my [blank] down feelin [blank]

With my [guy/girl] ridin [blank]

Settin out to [verb, noun]

Hoping that the cops [verb, noun]

You see I'm [adjective] of the [blank, blank, blank]

When everybody got to [verb] so [adjective]

So suckas stay right there just where you are 

I got my [blank, blank] with your [blank]

Example Rhyme:

Southbound I-95

Got my top down feelin alive 

With my girl riding shotgun 

Setting out to have fun

Hoping that the cops take five 

You see I'm bored of the same old scene 

When everybody got to talk so mean

So suckas stay right there just where you are

I got my bag packed with yo green!

Raising Kids

A human body's quantity 

for hours asleep per day

Is one way to keep tabs on health

If I could think that way.  

But truth is all I'd really want was

Twilight to descend

And Mr. Sandman to come in

To make the madness end. 

Circadian rhythm was so fucked

I simply did not care

That Starbucks opened at 6 am,

I'd wait outside and stare. 

But,

A joyful world I dwelled therein where 

All my drive was spent,

And happiness bursts forth just while

I'd build another bedsheet tent. 

So pushing down the rising feeling

So much in my mind 

That all of me I gave to her 

So older she would find...

That I was present in all ways

Someone could ever be. 

And leaving sleep so much behind

So she'd remember me. 

A Street I Know

Today I walked down a street I've known for years. 

Last time I was here I did not care. 

Though the hardness of the sidewalk 

Seems to welcome my boots..,

Glass buildings stand where once before 

Was paid parking...

New sculpture and color belie buildings 

Decades old, yet imposing as always. 

A grip I feel from my younger days

When parking fines and worn down 

Dress pants were things I was used to in so many ways. 

Old love it seems bursts forth today

To call home a son who'd gone far away. 

Imparting comfort and strength held just back for me

And cutting a rope to watch me break free

A Hammer

A hammer is a violent thing,
Meant for force, a strike.
With blunt and powerful subjugation.

To strike something so wrought, unuseful.

Until...

With spark and noise,
And hits, oh such hits.
A new form takes shape,
With edge refined.

A sharp thing.
A strong thing.
A new thing.

Unbent, smoothened and ready,
With undoubted purpose.

A Man, His Grass, Rain Bird, and Bardo

There are 31 days in July.
There are 31 days in August.
Have you ever wondered why
The hottest damn months are the longest?

My grass lays withered and yellow
While clinging to earth that's splitting and cracked.

No rain. None.
It was a wet and rainy Spring,
Now consider the opposite.

And here I am, I'm that guy.
That guy holding his hose.
Watering...with his hose.
In a neighborhood where every house
Has a sprinkler system.

There are shrubs too.
They wilt as I wet them down.
Leaning, and seeming to say...
"Thanks, but it's too late."

Oh, I have a sprinkler system too.
Oh yes, I do.  Rain Bird.
The best there is.  Fucking broke.
Broke by the broken soil.

Each leaf, each blade,
Looks up to me to plead....
"Save us!, Oh save us from this!...
You- Man holding your hose!...
Don't let us die!"

Resigned I sit in my yellow grass, indian style,
Holding my hose in one hand and my phone in the other...
Wearing my damn bathrobe.

I flip through my contacts and find Bardo the yard guy,
Who does not speak english.
"Bardo come manana, Manana ayudame para Rain Bird."
He takes cash only, that part was great english.

Wisdom

I am the voice of many voices,
A watcher in the trees.
I turn your head when you make choices,
Like comfort in a breeze.

I love you and I bode you well,
Invisible in air so thin.
A gentleman I am, you know,
You must ask and invite me in.

So many times I've called to you,
And beckoned for your ears.
You may have heard my pleading cry,
I flooded you with tears.
But I saw your face just while I spoke....
You ran from me with all your fears.

I live, and live, and live again!
I'll grace your forehead with a crown.
Fine measurements I keep of all,
I know each elder in every town.

A fool you'd be to deny me,
I'm marrow of your bones.
I hold in me a silent might,
With me you'll carry many stones.

I long for you to draw me near,
Please do not turn away.
If you have an ear to hear,
Dark night you'll see like day.

Love

Snow - You could say I most resemble snow.
Not cold, but somehow warm, and silent.
So silent.

I fall to you, upon you.
I am light, and without stain.

A revelation I am, to you.
When you come to know me I have already been here quite some time.
While you awaken to me, with the snow covered dawn.

I have been expecting you.

A reconciliation I am, to you.
For you.
And, with me everything makes sense.
You make sense.

Purpose I bring,
And legacy I give.
Fulfill your days my friend,
Get out your plow.
I have given you a real reason to live.

What We Do

What you see is what you get

At least you’re used to that notion.

Along the horizon the sun may set

But you just see the surface of the ocean.

All visions we have are superficial

And we can talk for hours and hours.

What stirs beneath our grand façade

Consumes our thoughts and all our powers.

No, what measures us and keeps us true

Can only be known by what we do.

Again

There is no wall,

Or stone,

Or pain.

That would stop me 

From doing,

For you all that I'd do.

For you.

Again.

And again.

The hurt I could give,

And give,

And give,

Again.

To you,

To you,

To you,

To you.

Just so you'll know,

And learn,

Recall and hear,

And then know, again,

And then again, 

My dear.

I am your wall,

Your stone,

And your pain.

And in your hand I dwell,

Yet you throw me down,

Again.

And again.

Why (Fill in the blank)

It would be impossible
To explain myself to you,
But I'm going to try.

What you need to know
Is that you're _______,
And I'm tired of trying
To figure out why.

Memorial Day

I tug this rope to hoist up high

Our flag up on this pole,

And hear the trumpet down the hill

So solemnly call roll.

It is we all so recognize

A symbol made by hand,

But we’re all so much likened to

This marker of our land.

I, like you, do understand

This banner’s silent power

At times we’ve rallied ‘round

In our darkest hour.

All the time I had but cursed

And toiled to strive but free,

Was all on purpose held to be

My God’s design for me.

I fly this flag up high for all

So proudly in the sun,

And bow my head to His great power

I am my Father’s son.

Skipping Stones

First throw
A skip and another skip.

Second throw
A skip and a bounce.

Next throw

All the way across the pond….

Next throw

That was the best stone I’ve found.

Again

Just throwing.

And again

As hard as I can…

One more time

Damn rock.

Have to throw again

That one was ugly.

Again

I’m sorry.

Again

Why?

Again

Because.

Standing on the shore I gaze out…

Again

Because I can’t help it.

Again

Why can’t I help it?

Again

It’s all I know.

Again, damnit

Because it’s love.

Ugly jagged rock, again

All the way across the pond.

Standing on the shore, I look up.

Again

All the way across the pond.

The King's Sleep

The passing day was filled with talk
And many points so deftly made
Now float above me standing here
While resting in the evening shade.

I sit right down and contemplate
Such matters as they stand
And think it may just serve me best
To sleep to understand.

In sleep I often wake to things
Awake I cannot see
And calculate so many things
Today were lost on me.

And read between the lines to know
More than what was really said
Talk to myself, remind myself
Without problems I am dead.

Amazed I am when I'm asleep
I have such mighty power
I'll write a speech, do complex math
Or plan my day by hour.

Though I'm asleep I see myself
As someone looking in
To my own world from just outside
At ease in my own skin.

When morning comes the cloud
Which floated round me yesterday
I hold deep in my fist so tight
And rule for one more day.

Field of Dreams

Behind me I can hear them speak.
And if not words, then doubt,

A certain tale or outcome forth,
And even if I'd shout...

Would not entrust them to just heed
Truth lost on all but some.

A tallest tree was once a seed.
If you build it they will come.