SURPRISES

The birds are not awake yet –
Though crouching – dawn’s alarm
Is upstaged by the sparkle
Of heaven’s star-struck farm –

Suspense – Anticipation
Are contradictory –
The first is pain that pierces most –
The other one is glee –

While autumn’s intermission
Gives cue for winter’s scene –
A cast of characters from spring
Are clowning on the green.

(29 October 2008, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

MAY AND MIGHT

I feared the Spirit’s purge –
But – baptized by breeze – learned
Remission is a soothing day –
Earth-kneeling – rinsed in May.

The will to live is strong –
Like hopes we had foregone –
The iris in dim cardboard room
Had sprouted – seeking bloom.

(9 May 2008, Pleasant Grove)

REDEMPTION

That stone must be quite heavy –
That boulder on your back –
A stumbling block so hefty
It must twist – like a rack.

I don’t know how you bear it –
I’d help you if I could –
I also have a burden –
This solid log of wood.

Your stone could be a Corner –
My beam become a Frame –
We could consecrate them to
The House that bears His Name.

That Cornerstone of honor –
That Doorway to the well
Will make our woes seem lighter
Than clumsy words can tell.

(28 October 2008, Pleasant Grove)

EMERGENCY

I don’t have time to worry –
I have to work or die –
So please excuse my hurry –
In case you wonder why

I’m moving every minute –
I’m pressing forward fast –
The downhill sprint is thrilling –
Though uphill, I was last.

The moments skip like hours –
The hours run like days –
Days dash down the trail like months –
And months are years in pace.

I like the swift momentum –
Inertia is a breath
That leads me to the finish –
Outracing even death.

(28 October 2008, Pleasant Grove)

KÄRLEKS VERS

Jag förälskar mig i en ängel
Vem visar sig på drömmar och syn.
Hans ord är tyst och trofull;
Hans hjärta är fridfull och ren.
Han kläder sig i vit och ljus.
Hans händer är stor och skön.

Min ängel skrivar med aktsam fingrarna
I bok det här sidor i form av fjärils vingar.
Vad han upptecknar i okänd språk
Är så väsentlig, så viktig,
Det jag ska vänta stille och tålig
Ända till han visar sig här, nju och nu.

(28 Januari 2002, Provo, Utah)

BOOK OF LIFE

To write is an essential route –
From fears and fantasies –
To Being who we really are –
With possibilities

Of sailing boats to promised lands
On vindicating seas –
Then building Temples out of stones
And windows into keys.

You will outlive me – Cherubim –
So seal my words up – please –
In pages shaped like butterflies
Who seek their destinies.

(27 October 2008, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

TRACK LAPS

A field of yellow flowers – Faith!
The feathers on a wing –
The fortress of a mountain peak –
The facets on a ring.

A harbor in the desert – Hope!
The heartbeat and the breath –
The haven in a hurricane –
The health that conquers death.

An unexpected letter – Love!
The language of a child –
A lyric from the Spirit’s lore –
The light the Savior smiled.

(22 October 2008, Provo, Utah)

"AS YOU WISH"

All I have left is Poetry
To keep my Hope alive –
This stimulating Company
Ensures that I’ll Survive.
I may not charm a farm-boy Prince –
He may not have the Time –
But I can print enchanting Scripts
In Canticles sublime.

All I have left is Melody
To keep my Harp in tune
For delicate glissando Notes –
Arpeggios of Noon.
I may not meet a gallant Knight –
He may not pass this Way –
But I shall stitch a linen Thread
Into a latter Day –

All I have left is Prosody
As Bridle for my Heart –
The beneficial Boundary
Brings bounty to my Art.
I may not marry in this Life –
That may not be my Role –
But I dare write a Record for
The dowry of my Soul.

All I have left is Harmony
As templet for my Loom –
The warp and weft will lift the Weight
Of waiting – in the Tomb.
I may not know the Hero well
Who wins immortal Fame
By slaying dragons for my Sake –
But I can spell His Name.

(26 October 2008, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

CHAPEL

The Spirit wants to speak with us,
But He is so polite.
He won’t compete with dissonance.
He doesn’t want to fight.

The day is full of whisperings.
The night is full of doves,
But He won’t force us to revere
Even though He loves

To bless us with benevolence –
Baptizing us in springs
Of living pure intelligence
And countless spotless wings –

Anointing us with clean delight,
The freshness of a child,
If we but listen to His voice,
So still, so small, so mild.

The Spirit has so much to tell –
He’s longing to explain
The footsteps of a faithful life –
The happiness we gain

By kneeling at the Fair One’s feet
And washing them with tears –
And kissing them with ointment prayers –
And sacrificing fears.

(19, 26 October 2008, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

PATIENCE (Dickinson J712/Fr479)

Because I could not wait for Words –
They daily wait on me –
Their Message comes in Figured rimes –
And sometimes Poetry.

They softly speak – They have no price –
And I can yield for free
My stresses and my pressured times
To Their Tranquility –

We bless the Stage where Mortals play
At Business – in the Plan –
We bless the Woods of Tender Trees –
We bless the Meekest Man

Because – He first blessed Us – with tongues –
My thoughts are shivering –
The holy Gospel tunes, the Gifts
My Hands delivering –

We pray within a Home that seeks
A Silence for the Sound –
The Answer – nearly audible –
The Spirit – is Profound

So that – it’s Paradise – but still
Seems humbler than the Dust –
And I’m surprised that Wisdom’s Words
Would lend me lyric Trust –

(18 October 2008, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

MORE HAIKU

Loss paralyzed speech –
Mother gone, I could not teach –
Knowledge locked – thought blocked

The bean is the queen –
Stringing green in garden spot –
Bringing life to plot

(18 October 2008, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

ORNITHOLOGY

I called the birds to breakfast seed –
The quail cooed in reply –
And flinching sparrows let me know
They heard my whistled cry.

My siblings have their dogs and cats –
Their sturdy children, too –
While I just feed the wilderness –
My flying fenceless zoo.

A scrub-jay perches on the porch
In azure majesty –
While juncos, finches – felines – search
My grass menagerie.

(18 October 2008, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

FOR WE KNOW NOT

I now surrender fear to thee –
My dear worst enemy –
No more terror – anxiety –
Go in peace – set free –

May you savor the jubilee –
Revel in liberty –
May Providential clemency
Grant you security –

I’m just longing for purity –
Hungry for clarity –
Too thirsty for sincerity
To forsake dignity –

Do not grieve what can never be –
What should have been will be –
What could have been will also be –
Weep not, adversity.

(17 October 2008, Provo, Utah)

HAIKU POST-KYOTO

Grief has been a sea
A row of waves ungraining
Drawing life anew

Monterey Bay waits
A falling in love can be
A calling for life

What was lost is here
Nothing can keep you from joy
What was gone is near

Furrows in fields sweep
Chasing the sun in cotton
Wind kissed nectarine

This year Spring lingered
Leaping pirouette dancer
True dreams cannot cease

We have time to sing
The carol was a Spring verse
Dance conveyed the tune

April moon in white
Coming from the east mountain
October turns to June

Be Thou my comfort
Don’t let go of me, Father
Be Thou my right hand

Copper Creek yet stirs
Autumn evades destruction
Time is on standby

Triangle Pass calls
Step by stone to Copper Lake
Face to lace with light

TWENTY-THIRD PARISON

Thy love is my dowry: it shall not fade.
He waketh me to dress up in clean garments:
He teacheth me to find the still-hearted.
He renews my song:
He guideth me in the ways of friendliness to His home’s gate.
Lo, though I run through the canyon of the famines of dearth,
I will feel no hunger: for Thou dost feed me.
Thy rock and thy bread both strengthen me.
Thou repairest a broken wall for me in the desert of my misery.
Thou appointest my time of joy; my heart overfloweth.
Truly kindness and beauty will hallow me every day that I write,
And I will bow on the hill at the feet of our Savior.

(16 October 2008, Provo, Utah)

PEERLESS

The only one who stands alone
Is He who did not stray –
The rest of us have company
In turning our own way –

The only name in earth or sky
That has the strength to save
Is His – The Son of Holiness
Will lift us from the grave –

So we are never desolate –
We have a perfect Friend
Who leads us – steadfast, bright, and true –
Enduring to the end.

(15 October 2008, Provo, Utah)

DIANA

The moon betimes is minuscule –
Her ministry is meek –
Yet clip by clip she magnifies –
Compounding strong from weak.

She rises from the rim of dusk –
She navigates the bay –
She lingers over sleepless rooms
Before she slips away –

Administers her molten balm
To Mercury and Mars
And shares a silver sustenance
With all the hungry stars –

Then exits into morning’s edge
Above a swanless lake
In sunlit practical descent
For every creature’s sake.

(14 October 2008, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

MILLES BORNES

Two compass spindles – One points north –
Step by step – the Second –
Quivering – switches back and forth
Line by line directions.

Digressions, detours, delays bring
Grace to grace Remedy –
Hazards, hardships, heartaches bring Face
To face Epiphany.

(20 September 2008, Aspen Grove, Utah)

PAGE TWO

A prism marks a common wall –
Assuring me that light
Belies the Lord’s economy –
Though hidden from my sight.

A bevel in a curtained room –
With no apparent source –
Arrays as it uncovers truth
With modest layered force.

My poetry is back again –
A rainbow’s outer lines
Help me to see the colors of
The inner world’s designs.

(13 October 2008, Elk Ridge, Utah)

CLIMBING

I never want to burden you –
I just need to ascend –
My back against a chimney wall –
My hands and feet depend

Upon the mercy of belay –
A rope – below – above –
One word of cool encouragement
That gives me faith to move.

(13 October 2008, Mt. Pleasant, Utah)

FOCUS

I'm hoping "for" eternal life --
I'm hoping "in" the Lord --
The hoping "for" gives charity --
The hoping "in" gives words.

Creation is faith's poetry --
Compassion is love's scope --
Eternal life is God's abode --
The Savior is our hope.

PROXY

Your fineness was a mirror –
Your kindness was a gaze
That helped me find a higher road
Because you held a place

For dreams I could not christen –
For promises not yet –
And though the glass turns dark again,
I never will forget

The fellowship of greetings –
The choreography
Of unexpected courtesies
That lift reality.

(8 October 2008, Provo, Utah)

SARAH’S SONG

I am coming into Beauty –
Although the Bloom is late –
Growing in the Loveliness of
How God can create

A Universe from dust and ash –
A Paradise from flight –
A Family from man and maid –
From desolation, Light –

The Asters are the last to fade –
God’s garden has no weeds –
The aspens glimmer in the glade
With gilded global beads.

(7 October 2008, Provo, Utah)

HOMEGOING

As if by ambulance, the path
Came rushing fast at me –
The disappointments disappeared,
And One I could not see

Was bearing me with urgent speed,
Before it was too late,
To meet my Destiny at last –
Without the least delay.

(3 October 2008, Provo, Utah)