Well Acquainted with Grief

Yes, He knew grief—knew him like an old enemy. From the first betrayal—all His care and attention pitched for a bite of fruit—through the latest— a kiss on the cheek, an 11-man flight, a swear word on the lips of his side-kick—His heart bled. He knew the whiplash of loss; He had stared into the […]

Better

Give us a king like Saul—handsome and tall— to ride out before us, a king like David—charming and skilled— to conquer our enemies, a king like Solomon—winsome and shrewd— to build our wealth, we prayed. But God gave us another man with a beard who would have been lost in the crowd if He had […]

Guardian

He stands bravely, silent as stone. People about: milling, talking tour guides speaking, children walking. – Face set like flint, toward the unknown. while children squeal—a happy sound chase one another, dive to the ground. – Straight as a pillar, white as bone as darkness drapes the evening sky, fireworks snap! Bursting and high. – […]

It Was Very Dark

it was very dark so trees reared up like monster men with mouths that gaped—in giant maws but dark. and close. and stark. – the night was starbled bright! a legion full of many men like scuttering roaches in the light and sticks and staves and might. – “Jesus come, step near.” the ringing call […]

What Christ Can Do

Look what Christ can do— bound as He was to a cross, weary and strangled in pain, a joke on the lips of man, a curse on the lips of God— death of the Immortal. He died like no one else— the pride of the Father’s eyes, a portal torn in the veil from Satan’s […]

Mary’s Memoriam

Broken like a casket box– then waves of sudden cold puddle on the head and hair dripping off the beard. Overpowering all else an earthen, floral note– extravagant, and rich embarrassment of eager zeal. – Lasting for a moment–just the ostentatious show outpoured, and used and sudden–gone. a year of lavished work. Just so–the trail […]

Life

I watched a flower give itself— a thousand tiny strands— that wafted into wind and grew a field of dandelions

Freedom’s Sacrifice

They went to war to battle for the cause, and gave up life and fortune for their own. They lived at war. They died and slept their sleep enclosed in soil hardened like resolve. – And yet they never rushed into the fray where soldiers died while bullets reigned around. They never stormed a cliff […]

The Last Lamb

It always seemed the lamb should die at night with dark like curtains, solemn, wrapped around, while pools of crimson gathered on the ground. Instead he died in milling crowds—and light. The priests were quick; their bloody hands a flight of flashing knives. The bleating sheep! The sound of death that pinched my beating heart […]

Sonnet V

How patiently He waited for the hour To give the perfect token of His love, The pardon for our guilt, enliv’ning pow’r, By perfect wisdom wrought from heights above. In time the Son was born as man to dwell— The sinless One—beneath our own sin’s curse. He knew our pain and sorrow, felt it well, […]