THE GAP

THE GAP (to Hugh and you)

The jealousy of Sadducees –
The scorn of Pharisees –
Betrayal by Perdition’s kiss –
The rage of enemies –

Rejection was apostasy –
The Crucifixion’s crime –
Despising the Anointed One
Poured shadow throughout time.

Disdaining of the Holy House –
The piercing of His hands
Was Excommunication’s doom
Extending through all lands.

Meridian of Majesty –
Though brief – was infinite –
A dispensation of the Fall
And Restoration’s net.

(7 October 2009, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

CANDELABRA

CANDELABRA

The body is a holy house –
A tabernacle home –
A template for epiphany –
An altar for shalom.

The body is a tree of life –
An edifice with roots –
A vineyard of apocalypse –
A shiloh of first fruits.

(28 October 2009, Provo, Utah)

PRAYER

PRAYER

What is real? Breath – Speech – Feast –
What is true? We – Them – You –
What is right? Love – Life – Light – Delight –
What is pure? Clean – Clear – Sure.

Reality is now –
And Verity to know –
And Righteousness is choosing well –
And Purity is snow.

(23 October 2009, BYU Fieldhouse, Provo, Utah)

BAPTISM

BAPTISM

I lead you down – I lift you up –
I sanctify the fragile cup –
I cleanse you from the stench of sin –
I bring you out – I take you in.

The waters are mortality –
The baptist has authority –
The garb of white, Creation’s hope –
Refining fire, the Holy Ghost.

Descent is death – Ascent is life –
Consent is breath – Assent is light –
My hands are placed upon your head –
Then drink the Water – eat the Bread.

(21 October 2009, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

DEVOTIO MODERNA

DEVOTIO MODERNA

What motivates the gulls to fly?
The food, the view, the air?
Or do they hasten south to flee
The winter’s atmosphere?

What motivates a soul to pray?
The words, the peace, the fear?
Or are we heading home to meet
The Master’s tender care?

(21 October 2009, Provo, Utah)

SAFE

SAFE

His every cell was torqued with pain
As He partook the cup –
His back already torn to shreds
As He was lifted up.

His agony was so complete
It left no hurt unturned –
His empathy was infinite –
He perfectly discerned

The anguish of humanity –
Inequity’s deceit –
The widow and the fatherless
Redeemed by His “defeat.”

(11 October 2009, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

WINDESHEIM

WINDESHEIM (to Nephi and Jacob)

The Church is the body of Christ –
The body of Christ, the Temple –
The Temple, then, is His true church:
Similitude, His example.

The Spirit is the breath of Life –
The breath of Life, inspiration –
Inspiration, exaltation:
The angels’ communication.

The Covenant, a law of Love –
The law of Love is charity –
Charity is the covenant:
Firmness of mind – Heart’s purity.

The Grace that saves is what He did –
What we do, reciprocation –
Reciprocation is real Grace –
Gratitude is revelation.

(7 October 2009, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

IN SECRET

IN SECRET (Matthew 6:6; Alma 33:7)

How merciful (when we approach
In confidential prayer)
Our Father is – He blesses us
In Providential care.

When we are in the wilderness,
He turns our enemies.
In field, or house, or secret hour,
He hears our earnest pleas.

He raises up a healing type,
That we may live and see
(If we but cast our eyes in faith)
An everlasting Tree.

The springs of perfect love He grants
Will make our burdens light.
All this is ours if we will kneel
Before the Source of Life.

(20 October 2009, Tuesday, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

KIN DAY

KIN DAY (Doctrine & Covenants 59)

The Sabbath is a family time –
The Jubilee of days –
When Labor rests in Liberty –
When Prayer pours out in Praise –

When Gratitude says, “This is good” –
Unspotted from the world –
When Righteousness brings broken hearts –
Contrite before the Lord –

When cheerful souls confess His hand –
Delighting in glad things:
Obedience – the Sacrament –
Thanksgiving – Offerings.

Each Sunday is millennial –
A consecrated place –
A Temple for His countenance –
A longing for His face.

(18 October 2009, Sunday, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

YOM KIPPUR (for Margaret Barker)

YOM KIPPUR (for Margaret Barker)

If Son of God can live as Man,
Then men can be like God!
The High Priest enters Holiness
With Sanctity bestowed.

More real than Life art Thou, my Lord –
More fine than Art, or Gold –
More true than any other Word
Or any story told.

(9 September 2009, Provo, Utah)

VERSE VOICE

They wait for me, these words gallant –
They poise in shadowed wings –
Intent upon the Prompter’s cue
When, like a dawn, they spring

Upon the stage of cognizance
With lines they know by heart –
With me as audience of awe
Recording drama’s art.

If language is the priest of truth
And poetry the seer –
Expression is the opera
That draws the curtain clear.

(9 September 2009, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

REFLECTIONS

To sing the joy of words –
The power of the pause –
The ecstasy of making sense –
The hour of record.

To sound the love of phrase –
The sentence built of orbs –
The merging phonemes binding lines –
The order of the verbs.

To say the praise of Him
Who said, “Let there be sky” –
Who gave the breath of light to earth –
Antithesis of die.

(10 September 2009, Provo, Utah)

OPE-TIDE

Could that ever happen to me?
Perhaps it’s not my turn –
So maybe patience is my vow –
My troth, obscurity.

Dear Heavenly Father, is this
My quest? To wait for promises?
Or will I cross the threshold step
Thoughts healed, fears quelled, as his?

Yes, maidenly daughter, the time
Will come when covenants replace
The longings of a learning heart –
You’ll enter sacred space.

(11 September 2009, Provo, Utah)

BASE CAMP

My pilgrimage is here at home –
Awaiting wand’ring stars –
Their journey is adventure’s path –
And gratitude is ours
For such a clear September day –
For mountain’s endless quest –
For summits that can summon us
To seek our very best.

(12 September 2009, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

MERE MORTAL

There’s so much more we could have been –
So many bands to break –
So many opportunities
To give instead of take –

There’s so much more we could have done
If we had not been blind –
So many lives we could have touched –
Such chances to be kind –

We could have done a thousand acts
Of quiet courtesy –
We could have blessed a thousand lives
With healing surety –

We could have rescued flocks of lambs –
We could have fed the poor –
We could have built up Paradise –
We could have done much more.

(12 September 2009, Pleasant Grove, Utah)

RUBIES

At least the path to bliss is clear –
For Virtue is the guide –
She calls us to awake and rise
To meet the morning tide.

Her distaff is a rod of words
That beckon through the mist
Of darknesses that dampen sight –
She sees, prevails, persists

In leading to the Blessing tree –
Creation’s residence –
In feeding us the fruit of Truth –
Salvation’s evidence.

Presents us to the Holy Ghost
As worthy to partake
Of ever-loving righteousness
For lasting kindness’ sake.

(26 September 2009, Provo, Utah)

LAST DAY FOR LEAVES

It’s not some’s verbal cup of tea –
Transparency seems bland –
But phosphorescent maple slopes
Steep autumn from one’s hand.

The drive around the loop was late –
The dusk was hovering –
But fall’s florescent foliage
Evaded covering.

(28 September 2009, Sundance Canyon, Utah)

AGES

Old deaths are dogging life –
But life is dodging death –
Old hates are haunting love –
But love is heeding breath –

Old fears are foiling hope –
But hope is facing fear –
Old woes are wounding joy –
But joy is waiting here.

(29 September 2009, Provo, Utah)

O, THE WISDOM (for Jacob, 2 Nephi 9)

He suffered all for every one –
Each woman, man, and child –
He succored us – the Perfect Son –
That we be reconciled.

He gathers us into the fold –
Each nation, kindred, tongue –
He scatters death with Light foretold –
He raises old and young.

(30 September 2009, Provo, Utah)

TABERNACLE (to Coach Mendenhall)

Abiding is a residence
Residing works by faith
Confiding is a providence
Providing answers fate.

Deciding is a precedence
Presiding offers sight
Dividing is the evidence
Persistence will indict.

(1 October 2009, Provo, Utah)

COGNITION

The tension of Extremity
Prompts Prosecution’s blame
In sentence accusational –
But once we know its name

We counter with Exactitude –
Then weakness is a veil –
Protecting from Endangerment
With strength that cannot fail.

(5 October 2009, Provo, Utah)