RESURGAM PSALM
The Master meets each Molecule –
Re-enters every cell –
Resumes each Atom’s nucleus
In Adam’s domicile.
His Spirit makes the fingers stir –
He fills the empty shell –
His Being wakes the blinking eyes
To new Immanuel –
Who resurrected God’s own Son –
Who called Him from the tomb?
Did Father push the stone aside
And lead Him from the room?
Did Father say, Rise up and walk –
Acquit Thy stony berth –
Rededicate the Temple now
As heaven be on earth –
Put on Thy robe of Majesty –
Go teach the Other Sheep –
Awake, wake up, Beloved One –
Arise from death’s short sleep.
(9-12 October 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
Friday, November 19, 2010
POETICS PSALM
POETICS PSALM
Our language has a trim ballet –
It has a pirouette –
A down plié – a revelé –
A tapping castenette.
Our language has a chapel quire –
It has a minstrel loft –
An evensong both short and long –
A hymn both loud and soft.
Our language has a music box –
A time that moves around –
An etiquette delirious –
A circular resound.
(30 September 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
Our language has a trim ballet –
It has a pirouette –
A down plié – a revelé –
A tapping castenette.
Our language has a chapel quire –
It has a minstrel loft –
An evensong both short and long –
A hymn both loud and soft.
Our language has a music box –
A time that moves around –
An etiquette delirious –
A circular resound.
(30 September 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
WILLIAM’S PSALM
WILLIAM’S PSALM
How did the Genius cultivate
His gift? At Arden’s Farm?
What was the secret of his globe?
Anne’s cottage garden charm?
He captivates the day, noon, night –
The sun, earth, stars and moon –
Communicates the sense of sight –
Of smell, taste, touch, and tune.
He feeds the creatures, milks the goat –
He wears the birding glove –
He renders soap from lavender –
He tenders verse from love.
He plants the sweet-peas in the rows –
He wanders in the wood –
Bewonders king, queen, courtier
While sifting base and good.
He travels on the road so much –
How could he leave this town?
Was Stratford-Avon’s atmosphere
The breath of his renoun?
(29 October 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
How did the Genius cultivate
His gift? At Arden’s Farm?
What was the secret of his globe?
Anne’s cottage garden charm?
He captivates the day, noon, night –
The sun, earth, stars and moon –
Communicates the sense of sight –
Of smell, taste, touch, and tune.
He feeds the creatures, milks the goat –
He wears the birding glove –
He renders soap from lavender –
He tenders verse from love.
He plants the sweet-peas in the rows –
He wanders in the wood –
Bewonders king, queen, courtier
While sifting base and good.
He travels on the road so much –
How could he leave this town?
Was Stratford-Avon’s atmosphere
The breath of his renoun?
(29 October 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
BONDS, DEBTS, HIKES
BONDS, DEBTS, HIKES
We will pay the price for Freedom –
But we eschew control –
Endure a tax for Liberty –
But not for shackled Dole.
We will work for Independence –
But bondage saps our Will –
Our labor thrives on Stewardship –
Not budget overkill.
(18 November 2010, Pleasant Grove City, Utah)
We will pay the price for Freedom –
But we eschew control –
Endure a tax for Liberty –
But not for shackled Dole.
We will work for Independence –
But bondage saps our Will –
Our labor thrives on Stewardship –
Not budget overkill.
(18 November 2010, Pleasant Grove City, Utah)
OLIVE PSALM
OLIVE PSALM
Just what did Jesus say that night
When words poured from His soul?
What dialogue with Deity
Streamed forth to make us whole?
How could He speak for every one –
Translating every woe?
How did He share the tales of grief
That no one else would know?
Who heard His empathetic plea?
Who saw Him bend and groan?
Who witnessed the atoning prayer
When He was left alone?
How could He drink the bitter cup
He never sought to fill?
How did He raise all mortals up?
How could He climb the hill?
How could He bear the travesty?
Why would He take the blame?
Why did He take the mockery
Of Priests who had no shame?
What thoughts went through His righteous mind?
What feelings broke His heart?
How could He represent us all?
How did He do His part?
(Sunday, 14 November 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
Just what did Jesus say that night
When words poured from His soul?
What dialogue with Deity
Streamed forth to make us whole?
How could He speak for every one –
Translating every woe?
How did He share the tales of grief
That no one else would know?
Who heard His empathetic plea?
Who saw Him bend and groan?
Who witnessed the atoning prayer
When He was left alone?
How could He drink the bitter cup
He never sought to fill?
How did He raise all mortals up?
How could He climb the hill?
How could He bear the travesty?
Why would He take the blame?
Why did He take the mockery
Of Priests who had no shame?
What thoughts went through His righteous mind?
What feelings broke His heart?
How could He represent us all?
How did He do His part?
(Sunday, 14 November 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
EXPIATION PSALM
EXPIATION PSALM (Romans 8; Isaiah 53; 2 Nephi 9)
Because the Lord is on our side –
No Evil has effect –
No Enemy can prosecute
The First-born Son Elect.
Through Him – the Father justifies –
No accusations stand –
The Christ who died and rose again
Appears at God’s Right Hand.
He makes an Intercession there
For us – in watchful Prayer –
No one can separate us from
The love God would not spare.
(Sunday, 14 November 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
Because the Lord is on our side –
No Evil has effect –
No Enemy can prosecute
The First-born Son Elect.
Through Him – the Father justifies –
No accusations stand –
The Christ who died and rose again
Appears at God’s Right Hand.
He makes an Intercession there
For us – in watchful Prayer –
No one can separate us from
The love God would not spare.
(Sunday, 14 November 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
AWKWARD PSALM
AWKWARD PSALM
A sign of true humility
Is when we understand
That human weakness may deserve
Respect – not reprimand.
The awkward ones who hesitate –
Forgetful souls who slip –
Quixotic fellows – clumsy gals –
Who seem to lose their grip –
The socially inadequate –
The ever ill at ease –
The overbearing amateurs
Who try too hard to please –
Have courage we could emulate
In facing their regrets –
They dare to carry on in grace
Sufficient for their debts.
(18 October 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
A sign of true humility
Is when we understand
That human weakness may deserve
Respect – not reprimand.
The awkward ones who hesitate –
Forgetful souls who slip –
Quixotic fellows – clumsy gals –
Who seem to lose their grip –
The socially inadequate –
The ever ill at ease –
The overbearing amateurs
Who try too hard to please –
Have courage we could emulate
In facing their regrets –
They dare to carry on in grace
Sufficient for their debts.
(18 October 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
CHARIOT PRAYER
CHARIOT PRAYER
“I’m looking for you, Little One.”
The voice seemed from the radio –
Awoke me from a needy sleep –
Began a prayer in stereo.
“I’m here,” I mumbled. “Here am I.”
I stumbled to the window sill –
Expecting snow – was met with Dawn –
Perhaps the Call was songbird’s trill?
I cannot dictate Time – nor Place –
Nor Manner – Purpose – my domain.
But shall I ask the Lord to take
My brother home? Relieve his pain?
How dost Thou set the captive free?
I have no keys to Where – nor When –
But Angels keep my Lazarus –
Awaiting Thy divine “Amen.”
(9 November 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
“I’m looking for you, Little One.”
The voice seemed from the radio –
Awoke me from a needy sleep –
Began a prayer in stereo.
“I’m here,” I mumbled. “Here am I.”
I stumbled to the window sill –
Expecting snow – was met with Dawn –
Perhaps the Call was songbird’s trill?
I cannot dictate Time – nor Place –
Nor Manner – Purpose – my domain.
But shall I ask the Lord to take
My brother home? Relieve his pain?
How dost Thou set the captive free?
I have no keys to Where – nor When –
But Angels keep my Lazarus –
Awaiting Thy divine “Amen.”
(9 November 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
ALL SAINTS PSALM
ALL SAINTS PSALM
On distant shore here – a longing for
The Other co-reflects –
To be There rebounds back to Hue –
Yet neither side suspects
That yearning is fulfilling screen –
A blinded window’s Pane –
Nostalgia’s perfect landscape draws
A scene one can regain.
(31 October 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
On distant shore here – a longing for
The Other co-reflects –
To be There rebounds back to Hue –
Yet neither side suspects
That yearning is fulfilling screen –
A blinded window’s Pane –
Nostalgia’s perfect landscape draws
A scene one can regain.
(31 October 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
SEALING PSALM
SEALING PSALM (For AHK)
The Other Side has Schools of Light –
Our Mentors labor there
With rolled-up sleeves in shirts of white –
Their manuscript is rare.
It’s filled with our Biographies –
Atlantic Ocean tales –
Adventures on Pacific seas –
In waves, in calms, in gales.
They gather our decisions in –
They sort them by Degree –
They work with tooled precision in
A golden filigree.
(3 November 2010, Provo, Utah)
The Other Side has Schools of Light –
Our Mentors labor there
With rolled-up sleeves in shirts of white –
Their manuscript is rare.
It’s filled with our Biographies –
Atlantic Ocean tales –
Adventures on Pacific seas –
In waves, in calms, in gales.
They gather our decisions in –
They sort them by Degree –
They work with tooled precision in
A golden filigree.
(3 November 2010, Provo, Utah)
CONFESS PSALM
CONFESS PSALM
I know all we have gone astray –
We’re stiff with salt of pride –
But as I kneel to start this day –
I sense Thee near my side.
I cannot claim Thee “on my side”
When I have chosen wrong –
But in the distance I can hear
The Tenor for my song.
(9 November 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
I know all we have gone astray –
We’re stiff with salt of pride –
But as I kneel to start this day –
I sense Thee near my side.
I cannot claim Thee “on my side”
When I have chosen wrong –
But in the distance I can hear
The Tenor for my song.
(9 November 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
Saturday, October 16, 2010
SACRALITY PSALM
SACRALITY PSALM (to Brother Faulconer)
Philology is love of Words –
To tell the Truth, the poet’s gift –
Philosophy is love of Truth –
The poet’s Words to read and sift.
In Metaphor, Metonymy –
A dual Phenomenology –
In Meaning’s similarities –
Relation’s contiguities.
So Dasein is a twin Design –
Concentric circles definite –
Perceive, Receive – Create, Refine –
Circumferential infinite.
With Quintessential inference
The House of Being has a door –
With Existential deference
The Hall of Heaven has a floor.
(16 October 2010, Mt. Pleasant, Utah)
Philology is love of Words –
To tell the Truth, the poet’s gift –
Philosophy is love of Truth –
The poet’s Words to read and sift.
In Metaphor, Metonymy –
A dual Phenomenology –
In Meaning’s similarities –
Relation’s contiguities.
So Dasein is a twin Design –
Concentric circles definite –
Perceive, Receive – Create, Refine –
Circumferential infinite.
With Quintessential inference
The House of Being has a door –
With Existential deference
The Hall of Heaven has a floor.
(16 October 2010, Mt. Pleasant, Utah)
Saturday, October 2, 2010
RESURRECTION PSALM
RESURRECTION PSALM
The keys have been restored
To long lost mysteries –
To covenants of days before –
To holy mysteries.
Prepare to clear the door –
To set the captives free –
Observe the Lord’s munificence
Secured by Calvary.
(12 June 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
The keys have been restored
To long lost mysteries –
To covenants of days before –
To holy mysteries.
Prepare to clear the door –
To set the captives free –
Observe the Lord’s munificence
Secured by Calvary.
(12 June 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
SHEWBREAD PSALM
SHEWBREAD PSALM (for James E. Talmadge)
“He was greater than the temple” –
Truer than the ritual –
More than counting steps for Sabbath –
He was Lord – Immanuel –
“God with us” – Anointed Maker –
Purer than the kosher Lamb –
More eternal than the altar –
He was Present – firm I-AM.
(30 September 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
“He was greater than the temple” –
Truer than the ritual –
More than counting steps for Sabbath –
He was Lord – Immanuel –
“God with us” – Anointed Maker –
Purer than the kosher Lamb –
More eternal than the altar –
He was Present – firm I-AM.
(30 September 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
MOISTURE PSALM
MOISTURE PSALM
Rain, speckling down in strings,
Unspotted overwhelms –
A liquid stream of word refrains –
Extraordinary realms.
A fragment of refreshing brooks –
Precipitations’s sea –
As drop by bead the Providence
Cleans window panes for me.
(2 October 2010, Provo, Utah)
Rain, speckling down in strings,
Unspotted overwhelms –
A liquid stream of word refrains –
Extraordinary realms.
A fragment of refreshing brooks –
Precipitations’s sea –
As drop by bead the Providence
Cleans window panes for me.
(2 October 2010, Provo, Utah)
COMPOSITION PSALM
COMPOSITION PSALM
Ingredients for mastery:
Energy – Control – Grace –
As if the Mind were sheet of ice –
As if the Brain had skates.
The Energy means Detail – Power –
The strokes of brilliancy –
Control means order – discipline –
Practice – proficiency.
The Grace means smoothness – balancing –
Originality –
The quality of edges cut
In figured vibrancy.
(2 October 2010, Provo, Utah)
Ingredients for mastery:
Energy – Control – Grace –
As if the Mind were sheet of ice –
As if the Brain had skates.
The Energy means Detail – Power –
The strokes of brilliancy –
Control means order – discipline –
Practice – proficiency.
The Grace means smoothness – balancing –
Originality –
The quality of edges cut
In figured vibrancy.
(2 October 2010, Provo, Utah)
BRITAIN PSALM
BRITAIN PSALM
Churches, abbeys, castles, schools:
All the splendor typical –
Mountains, valleys, rivers, pools:
All the brilliance mythical.
Banquets, markets, dinners, feasts:
Physical, ephemeral –
People – nations – families – folks:
Memorable, redeemable.
Wisdom, vision, vistas, views:
Every day was meaningful –
Lesson, message, essence, hues:
Every place was magical.
Portraits, pictures, paintings, poems:
Each conveyed a miracle –
Scriptures, windows, volumes, tomes:
Each domain was lyrical.
(29 August 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
Churches, abbeys, castles, schools:
All the splendor typical –
Mountains, valleys, rivers, pools:
All the brilliance mythical.
Banquets, markets, dinners, feasts:
Physical, ephemeral –
People – nations – families – folks:
Memorable, redeemable.
Wisdom, vision, vistas, views:
Every day was meaningful –
Lesson, message, essence, hues:
Every place was magical.
Portraits, pictures, paintings, poems:
Each conveyed a miracle –
Scriptures, windows, volumes, tomes:
Each domain was lyrical.
(29 August 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
UPGRADE PSALM
UPGRADE PSALM (to Elder Christofferson)
Honor has a quiet footstep –
Valor has a modest voice –
Honesty has earnest motives:
Decency in every choice.
Plain and precious consecration
Has a simple recipe:
“Purity – exertion – service –
Self-respect – integrity.”
(2 October 2010, Provo, Utah)
Honor has a quiet footstep –
Valor has a modest voice –
Honesty has earnest motives:
Decency in every choice.
Plain and precious consecration
Has a simple recipe:
“Purity – exertion – service –
Self-respect – integrity.”
(2 October 2010, Provo, Utah)
AUTHOR PSALM
AUTHOR PSALM
They wrote so we would know they lived –
The record is their breath –
The words they leave are monuments
Until they rise from death.
The works they seal in documents
Are candles in the dark –
Are storage in the granary –
Are manna in the ark.
(31 August 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
They wrote so we would know they lived –
The record is their breath –
The words they leave are monuments
Until they rise from death.
The works they seal in documents
Are candles in the dark –
Are storage in the granary –
Are manna in the ark.
(31 August 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
DIASPORA PSALM (3 Nephi 16:4)
DIASPORA PSALM (3 Nephi 16:4)
Where did the long lost Tribes go, Lord?
Where does the Remnant dwell?
Do other Sheep still look for Thee?
Is now the time to tell?
The northern lights illuminate
A perma-frosted mount –
Is that where Thy People linger?
And who will lead them out?
Forgive my curiosity –
I’d like to know their names –
Perhaps we share a common chord –
Recording hidden themes.
(13 September 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
Where did the long lost Tribes go, Lord?
Where does the Remnant dwell?
Do other Sheep still look for Thee?
Is now the time to tell?
The northern lights illuminate
A perma-frosted mount –
Is that where Thy People linger?
And who will lead them out?
Forgive my curiosity –
I’d like to know their names –
Perhaps we share a common chord –
Recording hidden themes.
(13 September 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
LUNA PSALM
LUNA PSALM
The Noosphere is dripping moon
The Numinous expands –
The Stratosphere is sipping noon –
The Ominous remands.
The Nebulous is clarified –
The Nocturne starts to wane –
The Atmosphere is rarified –
The Paragon of Fane.
(15 September 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
The Noosphere is dripping moon
The Numinous expands –
The Stratosphere is sipping noon –
The Ominous remands.
The Nebulous is clarified –
The Nocturne starts to wane –
The Atmosphere is rarified –
The Paragon of Fane.
(15 September 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
HOMELY PSALM
HOMELY PSALM
A plain face has its own estate –
So easy to adorn –
Enhancement almost effortless –
A smile can cancel scorn.
A low grace has its own reward –
No vanity to flaunt –
Reminded by forgetfulness
The emptiness of vaunt.
Familiar countenance is home –
To welcome frailty
As echo of a former age
Beyond debility.
The dead are not presumable –
They leave a vivid trace
Of helix-sculpted elegance –
Dimensions out of place.
(16 September 2010, Provo, Utah)
A plain face has its own estate –
So easy to adorn –
Enhancement almost effortless –
A smile can cancel scorn.
A low grace has its own reward –
No vanity to flaunt –
Reminded by forgetfulness
The emptiness of vaunt.
Familiar countenance is home –
To welcome frailty
As echo of a former age
Beyond debility.
The dead are not presumable –
They leave a vivid trace
Of helix-sculpted elegance –
Dimensions out of place.
(16 September 2010, Provo, Utah)
STORM SONG
STORM SONG
The lightning claps
The thunder’s doom –
A flood of sound
Emits the room –
Electric snaps
Announce the boom –
The rumble peaks
Into the gloom.
(22 August, 2010, Phoenix, Arizona)
The lightning claps
The thunder’s doom –
A flood of sound
Emits the room –
Electric snaps
Announce the boom –
The rumble peaks
Into the gloom.
(22 August, 2010, Phoenix, Arizona)
RINK SONG
.JPG)
RINK SONG
I know how to weave –
To move in and out –
Maintaining my speed –
Selecting a route –
Respecting Their space –
I know how to pass
In cross-over strokes –
Glide forward and back –
I practice new skills –
I learn how to spin –
Whirl left and twirl right –
Curve out and turn in.
(16 September 2010, Provo, Utah)
CLOCK PSALM
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CLOCK PSALM
Awakened by an inner chime
I greet the Morning Guest –
So grateful to be up on time
I thank Thee for my Rest.
Thy Cross becomes a Beam of Life –
Thy Crown, a vital sign –
The kiss of death, a Covenant –
Thy Cup, assuaging vine –
Thy Gospel plan, a spacious field –
Thy Tree – the love of God –
The Living Water irrigates
Thy Word, the iron rod.
Enlightened by the scripture feast
I meet the Path of Day –
But first I pause to praise Thy name –
At last – I kneel to pray.
(28 September 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
HARVEST PSALM
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HARVEST PSALM
Our Faith comes from the Son of God –
Hope from the Holy Ghost –
While Charity is shed abroad
By He who gave us most:
The Father’s love desirable
Above all when and where –
More joyous to the soul than ought –
Its Beauty comes by prayer –
More fair than purity of snow –
Of person – place – or thing –
His condescension’s time and space
Is one eternal ring.
The Living Water’s Tree of Life
Invites us to press forth –
Not heeding those who mock and point –
Partaking of His worth.
Our Hope stems from atoning Vine –
Our Faith from Living Root –
If we endure in Love we gain
Most sweet delicious Fruit.
(27 September 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
Thursday, September 23, 2010
MEMORIAL PSALM
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MEMORIAL PSALM
I got to see the Dawn-Moon set
Upon the Oquirrh edge –
I got to watch the Equinox
Appease the Wasatch ridge.
I got to hear the promises
Within the Holy Place –
I got to feel the spirit of
My loved ones – face by face.
(23 September 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
TIMPANOOKE SUITE
WAYMARK: FIRST
The air and Light are synonyms –
We paint the atmosphere –
The objects – metaphysical –
Are more than they appear.
WAYMARK: SECOND
The dawn is gradual but quick –
Resolving radiance –
The footsteps of ascendency –
Enlightened gradients.
WAYMARK: THIRD
Built-in body Bunsen-Burner –
Walking keeps us warm –
Ligamental lacework lattice
Has a layered charm.
WAYMARK: FOURTH
The uphill tests endurance –
Downhill slope our balance –
The guide that gives assurance:
Vegetation’s valance.
(18 September 2010, Timpanooke Trail)
The air and Light are synonyms –
We paint the atmosphere –
The objects – metaphysical –
Are more than they appear.
WAYMARK: SECOND
The dawn is gradual but quick –
Resolving radiance –
The footsteps of ascendency –
Enlightened gradients.
WAYMARK: THIRD
Built-in body Bunsen-Burner –
Walking keeps us warm –
Ligamental lacework lattice
Has a layered charm.
WAYMARK: FOURTH
The uphill tests endurance –
Downhill slope our balance –
The guide that gives assurance:
Vegetation’s valance.
(18 September 2010, Timpanooke Trail)
GROVE CREEK SUITE
“YES”: THE BENCH
My questions had an answer –
A Being whispered “Yes” –
I followed His commandment:
“Come follow, teach, and bless.”
MATURITY: THE BRIDGE
Respect for words is charity –
Without it we would fail –
To train the tongue means clarity –
That amity prevail.
HUMILITY: THE FOREST
Humility’s not high nor low –
It’s balancing the load –
The paradox of Heaven’s God –
Mortality’s Abode.
CLIMBING: THE SPRINGS
To climb is steep but worth the strain –
The vistas are immense –
The nearly silent chant of grass
Awakes our sleeping sense.
SOLO: CHRIS’S FLATS
Our solitude is plenitude –
The emptiness is dear –
The wilderness inhabitants
Can greet us without fear.
THE WAY: THE GROVE
“The way seeks us” as we walk on –
The path is foreordained –
Coincidence is not by chance –
The plan is not constrained.
FELLOWSHIP: THE FIRE ROAD
Our fellowship brings gratitude –
The gift of morning tide –
Companionship is interlude
With angels at our side.
My questions had an answer –
A Being whispered “Yes” –
I followed His commandment:
“Come follow, teach, and bless.”
MATURITY: THE BRIDGE
Respect for words is charity –
Without it we would fail –
To train the tongue means clarity –
That amity prevail.
HUMILITY: THE FOREST
Humility’s not high nor low –
It’s balancing the load –
The paradox of Heaven’s God –
Mortality’s Abode.
CLIMBING: THE SPRINGS
To climb is steep but worth the strain –
The vistas are immense –
The nearly silent chant of grass
Awakes our sleeping sense.
SOLO: CHRIS’S FLATS
Our solitude is plenitude –
The emptiness is dear –
The wilderness inhabitants
Can greet us without fear.
THE WAY: THE GROVE
“The way seeks us” as we walk on –
The path is foreordained –
Coincidence is not by chance –
The plan is not constrained.
FELLOWSHIP: THE FIRE ROAD
Our fellowship brings gratitude –
The gift of morning tide –
Companionship is interlude
With angels at our side.
PALETTE PSALM
PALETTE PSALM
Full moon over the county – lake –
Sketches a grey wove scene –
Water color washes opaque
Upon a silken screen.
Midnight passing to blurry dawn –
Placid pool suffuses –
Brushes nebulous pearl on lawn –
Pacific diffuses.
(22 September 2010, Pleasant Grove)
Full moon over the county – lake –
Sketches a grey wove scene –
Water color washes opaque
Upon a silken screen.
Midnight passing to blurry dawn –
Placid pool suffuses –
Brushes nebulous pearl on lawn –
Pacific diffuses.
(22 September 2010, Pleasant Grove)
Friday, September 17, 2010
GIFT PSALM
GIFT PSALM
To be healed we must have faith –
To heal we must be pure –
To be taught we must be meek –
To teach we must defer –
To believe we must have hope –
To love we must take heart –
To receive we must discern
To sieve the better part.
(8 September 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
To be healed we must have faith –
To heal we must be pure –
To be taught we must be meek –
To teach we must defer –
To believe we must have hope –
To love we must take heart –
To receive we must discern
To sieve the better part.
(8 September 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
INADEQUATE PSALM
INADEQUATE PSALM
How does my prayer help others since
Thou knowest everything?
What difference can my pleadings make?
What solace can I bring?
Some burdens are so heavy that
My arms aren't fit to bear –
How can I lift my neighbor's load?
What do I have to share?
(7 September 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
How does my prayer help others since
Thou knowest everything?
What difference can my pleadings make?
What solace can I bring?
Some burdens are so heavy that
My arms aren't fit to bear –
How can I lift my neighbor's load?
What do I have to share?
(7 September 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
VERSE PSALM
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VERSE PSALM
To keep the fiery darts away
I write my questions out –
Some answers follow instantly –
I have to jot them down.
The rime is just an instrument –
So please don’t take defense
Or minimize my artistry –
At least I’m making sense.
At first I thought it was a fluke –
A flash – A falling star –
I worried that the Well would drought –
But Words still flow – so far.
I won’t presume that you should choose
To listen to my noise –
But if a trickle soothes a harm
That vindicates my voice.
(13 September 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
SESSION PSALM
SESSION PSALM
Thy House is full of sight –
Thy Sanctuary bright –
The chandelier of prism prayer
Is pilgrim’s progress light.
Thy Heart is filled with Love –
Thy Charity complete –
Thy Comforter a perfect room
Where saints and spirits meet.
(4 September 2010, American Fork, Utah)
ABROAD PSALM
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ABROAD PSALM
Our lives are intertwined
No matter where we go –
The interstice of circumstance
Connects the roots below.
Our times are co-aligned
In spite of distances –
Coordinates of memory
Above resistances.
(26 August 2010, Provo, Utah)
WALL PSALM
WALL PSALM
I stood in sun-washed Roman ruins
Astounded by a tree
Who gave me air as I exhaled
A blessing – as if fee.
A breeze came haling through the leaves
A sounding from the past –
As if to greet in choral heaves
Astonished spirits gasped.
(3 August 2010, Chesters, Northumberland, England)
BARLEY HALL PSALM
BARLEY HALL PSALM
The bells of York were ringing –
The Minster chimes were pealing –
As if for us – were singing
A welcome full of feeling.
The candlelight was glowing –
The evensong retreating –
The tables overflowing
The banquet room for meeting.
The venison delicious –
Potatoes – chutney – pleasing
The orange cake was nutritious –
Our hungry stomachs easing.
The Viking folks were hiding –
The Anglo-Saxons shining –
The Romans were presiding –
And we contented dining.
(3 August 2010, York, Yorkshire, England)
TIME OUT PSALM
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TIME OUT PSALM
Is solitude a selfishness?
Or are we set apart
With quiet time for drinking light
Before the service start?
Is distillation idleness?
Or is there time for thought
With meditation as a prayer
For doing as He taught?
(13 September 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
MANDATORY PSALM
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MANDATORY PSALM
There has to be Atonement
More infinite than death –
There has to be Redemption
More definite than breath.
There has to be Revival
More meaningful than pain –
There has to be Salvation
More bountiful than gain.
(10 September 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
RECOMMEND PSALM
RECOMMEND PSALM (Virtue Value 3)
To enter the Temple – receive
All the blessings of Heavenly
Father – I can and will do this:
I’ll remember my ancestors –
Imagine the voice of the Lord
Saying, “Come unto me ye blessed.”
I will look up to God that day
With His image upon my face –
Sing the hymns of redeeming grace –
Stripped of pride, envy, mockery –
Partake of the fruit of the tree –
Repent – change my heart – garments clean –
Turn to Him as His arms extend –
Share goods with the needy and poor –
Name sealed in the Book of the Lord.
(1 September 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
To enter the Temple – receive
All the blessings of Heavenly
Father – I can and will do this:
I’ll remember my ancestors –
Imagine the voice of the Lord
Saying, “Come unto me ye blessed.”
I will look up to God that day
With His image upon my face –
Sing the hymns of redeeming grace –
Stripped of pride, envy, mockery –
Partake of the fruit of the tree –
Repent – change my heart – garments clean –
Turn to Him as His arms extend –
Share goods with the needy and poor –
Name sealed in the Book of the Lord.
(1 September 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
REPENTANCE PSALM
REPENTANCE PSALM (Virtue Value 4)
To be more pure and worthy:
I’ll turn my thoughts from pride –
I’ll magnify my talents –
I’ll beautify inside –
I’ll walk above my weakness –
I’ll look upon the heart –
I’ll worship in the Temple –
I’ll strive to do my part.
(31 August 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
COMPANIONSHIP PSALM
COMPANIONSHIP PSALM (Virtue Value 2)
I learned the Spirit yearns to dwell
In Tabernacles clean
So that the Holy Ghost may shine –
So He can intervene
To help us call a friend in need –
To teach us how to pray –
So we can serve our neighbors well
And know what words to say.
(31 August 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
STANDARDS PSALM
STANDARDS PSALM (Virtue Value #1)
I promise to sanctify mind and thought –
I promise to live the good words I’m taught –
I promise to lift a banner of gold –
I’ll represent Virtue – gentle but bold.
I’ll seek to be trustworthy – moral – true –
I’ll try to remember what Christ would do –
I’ll honor commitments so I can be
An angel whose dowry is charity.
The blessings of chastity – clean and pure –
Are manifest – manifold – clear and sure –
Protection from danger – freedom from fear –
Wisdom – not blindness – discernment – to hear
The forthcoming promises dear and real:
The gift to be healed and the gift to heal.
(31 August 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
Monday, August 30, 2010
MUSEUM PSALM
MUSEUM PSALM
(on “Le Christ à la colonne” by Antonello da Messina)
I almost found my soul in Art
Submitting it to hope –
A portrait set apart for Christ
Because He bore the rope –
He suffered for our victories
In gallery – in frame –
In masterpiece – a face I knew
Before I sought His name –
Near cabinets of tapered scripts
Confirming history –
Madonnas robed in clear pastels
Beside His majesty –
I almost lost myself in Pain
That sought a meek reply –
To paint a view of Paradise
Because He chose to die.
(29 August 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
Sunday, August 29, 2010
AUGUST PSALM
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AUGUST PSALM
The desert is as green as spring –
A prism in the east –
A partly cloudy atmosphere
Protects me from the heat.
Vermillion cliffs escorting me –
The landscape as a shield –
The western wilderness a fort
For revelation’s yield.
(19 August 2010, Lee’s Ferry, Arizona)
LAPIDARY PSALM
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LAPIDARY PSALM
You’re sitting on a gold mine –
You’re standing on a hoard –
Your talent’s glowing in the dark –
Your music can be heard.
Start excavating knowledge –
Start drilling for the vein –
Start faceting the wisdom of
Your immanent domain.
The world is full of beauty –
The Earth has wealth for all –
Start magnifying who you are –
Start answering the call.
An echo in the valleys –
A shimmer in the fells –
A shiver on the hillsides –
A ripple in the dells.
(14 August 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
Saturday, August 28, 2010
CARBON FOOTPRINT PSALM
CARBON FOOTPRINT PSALM
The gift of Trees is oxygen –
Carbon dioxide ours –
Emissions are reciprocal –
Relationship empowers –
Dominion is a stewardship –
Replenishment a vow –
One pristine Life has saved the Earth –
The rest of us learn how.
The Body is ecology –
Pollution starts with self –
The Preservation of the wild
Begins with moral Health.
The World has always heated up
And hardened back to frost –
The Garden thrives when we elect
To honor Who we lost.
(3 August 2010, Durham Cathedral, England)
SPACE PSALM
SPACE PSALM (for Neal deGrasse Tyson)
The distant Universe arrives –
Our telescope expands –
The Timing is irrelevant
When Vision greets the Band.
The Light we see – though millions old –
Is good enough for dreams –
The journey through the patient Dark
Is not far as it seems.
(27 August 2010, Provo, Utah)
MONSOON PSALM
MONSOON PSALM
The shafts of dusk pour honey down
Into the aging West –
A golden disk below the cloud
Shows places I love best:
The neighborhood – the Temple spire –
The valley of the blest –
I welcome Evening to my home –
A quiet gracious guest.
(27 August 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
The shafts of dusk pour honey down
Into the aging West –
A golden disk below the cloud
Shows places I love best:
The neighborhood – the Temple spire –
The valley of the blest –
I welcome Evening to my home –
A quiet gracious guest.
(27 August 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
Friday, August 13, 2010
ABINGDON PSALM
ABINGDON PSALM
Mark Thou my feet – Keep Thou my mete –
Thy Chapel can’t be far –
Please may I take Thy Sacrament
And gather where Saints are?
I’ll hush my Heart – I’ll take the Meal –
Thy Covenants I’ll mind –
I’ll sing the Psalms of Righteousness:
I ask – I seek – I find!
(8 August 2010, Oxford, England)
Mark Thou my feet – Keep Thou my mete –
Thy Chapel can’t be far –
Please may I take Thy Sacrament
And gather where Saints are?
I’ll hush my Heart – I’ll take the Meal –
Thy Covenants I’ll mind –
I’ll sing the Psalms of Righteousness:
I ask – I seek – I find!
(8 August 2010, Oxford, England)
COLLEAGUE PSALM
COLLEAGUE PSALM
My time to speak seems over now –
The understanding halts –
The ears to hear and eyes to see
Confounded by my faults –
Until a kindred orator
Makes comments that connect –
Restoring equanimity
My fears could not reject.
(Friday, 6 August 2010, Oxford, England)
My time to speak seems over now –
The understanding halts –
The ears to hear and eyes to see
Confounded by my faults –
Until a kindred orator
Makes comments that connect –
Restoring equanimity
My fears could not reject.
(Friday, 6 August 2010, Oxford, England)
EAST LOOP PSALM
EAST LOOP PSALM
How can I tell Thy beauty, Lord?
How can I show Thy work?
There is no thing more lovely than
The glory of Thy world.
In spite of desolations, wars,
Trials, tribulations, hurts –
There is no act more holy than
Creation of the Earth.
(29 July 2010, Ambleside, Lake District, England)
FELLS PSALM
FELLS PSALM
The harp not just accompaniment –
The tuning not just key –
The plucking of the strings unlocks
Vibration’s poesy.
Harmonics animate the rhyme –
The intervals conform
The fingertips to masterpiece –
The power to perform.
(29 July 2010, Ambleside, Lake District, England)
STRATFORD PSALM
STRATFORD PSALM
“Touch Shakespeare for me,” Poet pled,
So I walked into Dawn
Along the road to Avon’s bank –
I had my apron on.
A pocket for my camera –
A pocket for my pen –
I touched the Morning with my feet
Surmising where he’d been.
(Wednesday, 28 July 2010, Stratford-on-Avon, England)
DAMSEL PSALM
DAMSEL PSALM
Our abstinence is knowledge, too,
Although a different kind –
Submission to a discipline
Can magnify the mind.
For what we lack and what we need
Can teach us how to sing
Of how the distant Temple gleams
Before the entering.
(Wednesday, 28 July 2010, Stratford-on-Avon, England)
BARD PSALM
BARD PSALM
Nature is the lens of God
And revelation’s cue –
Poetry’s transcription of
His hieroglyphic view.
Baptized, married, buried here
In Trinity of Life
With warning not to move his bones –
He sleeps beside his wife.
(Wednesday 28 July 2010, Stratford-on-Avon, England)
ARDEN FARM PSALM
ARDEN FARM PSALM
“An owl can hear a mouse’s heart –
Perceive its rustling feet” –
The bells at four – the whispered mist –
The coney’s soft retreat.
The Butterfly flotilla sees
The stained class window’s cross –
The Diocese of Coventry –
The Deanery of Fosse.
(Tuesday, 27 July 2010, Mary Arden’s Farm, Stratford-on-Avon, England)
TROUSSEAU PSALM
TROUSSEAU PSALM
Our True Love is investiture –
Disrobing not the point –
It’s what we share, not what we take,
We clothe, we cleanse, anoint.
Immersed in total otherness –
Reciprocal respect –
Apparel of unselfishness
That marriage will protect.
(Tuesday, 27 July 2010, London, England)
Our True Love is investiture –
Disrobing not the point –
It’s what we share, not what we take,
We clothe, we cleanse, anoint.
Immersed in total otherness –
Reciprocal respect –
Apparel of unselfishness
That marriage will protect.
(Tuesday, 27 July 2010, London, England)
SMILE PSALM
SMILE PSALM
She let her voice be beautiful –
She let her song emerge –
She let her tenderness evolve
Into a gentle curve –
Allowed the years to soften tone –
Permitted age to bend
Her plainness into cadences
With measures that ascend.
(14 August 2010, Provo, Utah)
She let her voice be beautiful –
She let her song emerge –
She let her tenderness evolve
Into a gentle curve –
Allowed the years to soften tone –
Permitted age to bend
Her plainness into cadences
With measures that ascend.
(14 August 2010, Provo, Utah)
SERMON PSALM
SERMON PSALM
Who am I to be offended?
Who am I to cast a stone?
Stewardship for condemnation
Rest upon the Lord alone.
Measure meted – balance even –
Eye for Aye and Tooth for Sooth –
Make inequity of justice –
Underestimating Truth.
(Sunday, 25 July 2010, London, England)
Who am I to be offended?
Who am I to cast a stone?
Stewardship for condemnation
Rest upon the Lord alone.
Measure meted – balance even –
Eye for Aye and Tooth for Sooth –
Make inequity of justice –
Underestimating Truth.
(Sunday, 25 July 2010, London, England)
Sunday, August 1, 2010
SHANNON PSALM
SHANNON PSALM
Where’s the Savior? Where’s the Savior?
“Here I AM – Here I AM.”
How art Thou today, Lord?
“Very well.”
I thank Thee.
“Follow me – Follow me.”
Where is Father? Where is Father?
“He is here – He is here.”
Hallowed be His name.
“Very well.”
I love Thee.
“Come to Him – Come to Him.”
Where’s the Spirit? Where’s the Spirit?
“I am here – I am here.”
May I please receive Thee.
“Very well.”
Don’t leave me.
“Look and see – Look and see.”
(20 June 2010, Limerick, Ireland)
Where’s the Savior? Where’s the Savior?
“Here I AM – Here I AM.”
How art Thou today, Lord?
“Very well.”
I thank Thee.
“Follow me – Follow me.”
Where is Father? Where is Father?
“He is here – He is here.”
Hallowed be His name.
“Very well.”
I love Thee.
“Come to Him – Come to Him.”
Where’s the Spirit? Where’s the Spirit?
“I am here – I am here.”
May I please receive Thee.
“Very well.”
Don’t leave me.
“Look and see – Look and see.”
(20 June 2010, Limerick, Ireland)
FOYER PSALM
FOYER PSALM
He heals the Hates of History –
He cures the Corazón –
Unties the Cords of Misery –
Delivers Salvación –
Unwinds the knotted Threads of Fate –
He mends the Tapestry –
Rebuilds the Battle’s shattered Gate –
Reveals the Reverie.
(25 July 2010, Foyer de la Jeune Fille, Paris, France)
He heals the Hates of History –
He cures the Corazón –
Unties the Cords of Misery –
Delivers Salvación –
Unwinds the knotted Threads of Fate –
He mends the Tapestry –
Rebuilds the Battle’s shattered Gate –
Reveals the Reverie.
(25 July 2010, Foyer de la Jeune Fille, Paris, France)
COMMON THYME
COMMON THYME
Time forgives what we cannot:
Rattled swords and battles fought.
Goldenrod for battered dead –
Meadow sweet for broken head –
Butcher’s Broom for genocide –
Caraway for those who died.
(15 July 2010, Battle, England, Hastings, Kent)
Time forgives what we cannot:
Rattled swords and battles fought.
Goldenrod for battered dead –
Meadow sweet for broken head –
Butcher’s Broom for genocide –
Caraway for those who died.
(15 July 2010, Battle, England, Hastings, Kent)
APPROACH PSALM
APPROACH PSALM
Someone was kind to me
Quite unexpectedly
In a Provident way
On a difficult day –
Kindness prompts Love’s mercí.
What we fear love might be
In stark mortality
The Lord will revise
With tender surprise:
Embodied Eternity.
(14 July 2010, London England)
Someone was kind to me
Quite unexpectedly
In a Provident way
On a difficult day –
Kindness prompts Love’s mercí.
What we fear love might be
In stark mortality
The Lord will revise
With tender surprise:
Embodied Eternity.
(14 July 2010, London England)
Friday, July 23, 2010
ABBEY PSALM
ABBEY PSALM
The use of space to mystify –
The tool of time to test –
The asymmetric corridors
The evening sun invest.
Like Gaelic Christianity
In primitive Ione –
Illumination’s handiwork
In Capitals of stone.
(20 June 2010, Limerick Ireland)
The use of space to mystify –
The tool of time to test –
The asymmetric corridors
The evening sun invest.
Like Gaelic Christianity
In primitive Ione –
Illumination’s handiwork
In Capitals of stone.
(20 June 2010, Limerick Ireland)
CHART PSALM
CHART PSALM
When North is East, and West is South –
When Up is Left, and Right is Down –
When curved geography is flat –
When Far is This, and Near is That –
At distance These, and Those are close –
When In is strange; and Out is home –
When Death is Breath, and Life is Pause –
Then Word is Thought; then Truth is clause.
(10 July 2010, London England)
When North is East, and West is South –
When Up is Left, and Right is Down –
When curved geography is flat –
When Far is This, and Near is That –
At distance These, and Those are close –
When In is strange; and Out is home –
When Death is Breath, and Life is Pause –
Then Word is Thought; then Truth is clause.
(10 July 2010, London England)
FASTING PSALM
FASTING PSALM
Was spilt for me – most precious Blood –
Was torn for me – most gracious Son –
His Body kneaded into Flesh –
No Sip of Water to Refresh –
My being takes His Spirit’s Hand –
So real a Child can comprehend.
(4 July 2010, London England)
Was spilt for me – most precious Blood –
Was torn for me – most gracious Son –
His Body kneaded into Flesh –
No Sip of Water to Refresh –
My being takes His Spirit’s Hand –
So real a Child can comprehend.
(4 July 2010, London England)
INTAGLIO PSALM
INTAGLIO PSALM (Ether 12:27)
Selfishness is evident
When circumstance is new –
Mirror can distort a face –
But countenance is true.
Selflessness is secretive –
An image may deceive –
A weakness may conceal a strength
That Godliness conceive.
(17 July 2010, London England)
Selfishness is evident
When circumstance is new –
Mirror can distort a face –
But countenance is true.
Selflessness is secretive –
An image may deceive –
A weakness may conceal a strength
That Godliness conceive.
(17 July 2010, London England)
SMITERS PSALM
SMITERS PSALM
One can feel the disapproval
As subtle as a stare –
But time nor place do not allow
The Luxury to care.
One can sense the cool resentment
As silent as a glare
But cannot change the temperament
Of those who shun repair.
An offering of Olive Branch
Intended to defuse
Can instigate ungrateful wrath
If enemies refuse.
The Prince of Please would not impose
An Amnesty by force –
The Bridegroom of the Armistice
Endured the cruel Divorce.
(19 July 2010, London, England)
One can feel the disapproval
As subtle as a stare –
But time nor place do not allow
The Luxury to care.
One can sense the cool resentment
As silent as a glare
But cannot change the temperament
Of those who shun repair.
An offering of Olive Branch
Intended to defuse
Can instigate ungrateful wrath
If enemies refuse.
The Prince of Please would not impose
An Amnesty by force –
The Bridegroom of the Armistice
Endured the cruel Divorce.
(19 July 2010, London, England)
Thursday, July 22, 2010
MARKET SONG
MARKET SONG
I frame my eyes with rosy Hearts –
My glance with Valentines –
Protection from the Glazing-Sun –
My Portobelle Designs.
The whimsy of a childlike Joy –
A view of hidden Glee –
This Light indulgence in my style –
A Pink Accessory.
(19 July 2010, London, England, Portobello Street)
I frame my eyes with rosy Hearts –
My glance with Valentines –
Protection from the Glazing-Sun –
My Portobelle Designs.
The whimsy of a childlike Joy –
A view of hidden Glee –
This Light indulgence in my style –
A Pink Accessory.
(19 July 2010, London, England, Portobello Street)
OFFERING PSALM
OFFERING PSALM
Here – the Broken charity –
Here – the Contrite boon –
Here – the blundered Recompense –
Here – the minored Tune –
While the perfect Failure smiles –
While Pretensions thrive –
While the hypocritic Boast
Bargains to survive –
All He bids for Sacrifice:
Taking off the Masks –
Humble deeds and meek regrets –
This is all He asks?
Dare we try to hide ourselves –
Shamed by grime and greed –
Then Perfection’s Future Tense
Meets our Present need.
(20 July 2010, London England)
Here – the Broken charity –
Here – the Contrite boon –
Here – the blundered Recompense –
Here – the minored Tune –
While the perfect Failure smiles –
While Pretensions thrive –
While the hypocritic Boast
Bargains to survive –
All He bids for Sacrifice:
Taking off the Masks –
Humble deeds and meek regrets –
This is all He asks?
Dare we try to hide ourselves –
Shamed by grime and greed –
Then Perfection’s Future Tense
Meets our Present need.
(20 July 2010, London England)
FRATERNITIE PSALM
FRATERNITIE PSALM
Forgiveness is a letting go –
A setting – free of stains –
A springing breeze grants Terror’s court
A Libertie from pains.
Inequite incarcerates –
But Mercy steels the Key –
The Resurrection’s Gothic arch
Rebukes Conciergerie.
What seemed to be significant –
Inconsequent as Pride –
His Pardon is the only room
Where Freedom can abide.
(22 July 2010, Paris, France)
Forgiveness is a letting go –
A setting – free of stains –
A springing breeze grants Terror’s court
A Libertie from pains.
Inequite incarcerates –
But Mercy steels the Key –
The Resurrection’s Gothic arch
Rebukes Conciergerie.
What seemed to be significant –
Inconsequent as Pride –
His Pardon is the only room
Where Freedom can abide.
(22 July 2010, Paris, France)
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
WATCH PSALM
WATCH PSALM
The little Clock
That has a Tock
Keeps Ticking in my Mind.
It has to Talk
Because a Cog
Keeps chiming when I Wind.
The tiny Bell
That has a Knell
Keeps Pealing in my Brain.
It has to Tell
Because the Tale
Keeps timing into Braille.
(13 July 2010, London, England)
The little Clock
That has a Tock
Keeps Ticking in my Mind.
It has to Talk
Because a Cog
Keeps chiming when I Wind.
The tiny Bell
That has a Knell
Keeps Pealing in my Brain.
It has to Tell
Because the Tale
Keeps timing into Braille.
(13 July 2010, London, England)
Sunday, July 11, 2010
DEEP BEAUTY PSALM
DEEP BEAUTY PSALM
I was born to be a Queen –
Elect – Of noble birth –
Beauty’s secret heroine –
Tale of trial and mirth.
Once upon a time the Test –
Challenge, grief, and laughter –
Blessings following the Quest –
Happy Ever After.
(27 March 2010, Provo, Utah)
I was born to be a Queen –
Elect – Of noble birth –
Beauty’s secret heroine –
Tale of trial and mirth.
Once upon a time the Test –
Challenge, grief, and laughter –
Blessings following the Quest –
Happy Ever After.
(27 March 2010, Provo, Utah)
Saturday, June 26, 2010
TREADSTONE PSALM
TREADSTONE PSALM
Real love is Genesis –
The Ballroom Dance of youth –
On Persian carpets – etched with stars –
The modesty of truth.
True joy is Exodus –
The company enhance –
In Asian deserts – coming out –
The debutantes of trance.
Pure form is Emphasis –
The accent strong or weak –
The isocolon syllables
Enable feet to speak.
Real light is Chrysalis –
As beautiful as Moon –
The waltz of Family Kings and Gwens
In promenade of Noon.
(25 June 2010, Dublin, Ireland)
Real love is Genesis –
The Ballroom Dance of youth –
On Persian carpets – etched with stars –
The modesty of truth.
True joy is Exodus –
The company enhance –
In Asian deserts – coming out –
The debutantes of trance.
Pure form is Emphasis –
The accent strong or weak –
The isocolon syllables
Enable feet to speak.
Real light is Chrysalis –
As beautiful as Moon –
The waltz of Family Kings and Gwens
In promenade of Noon.
(25 June 2010, Dublin, Ireland)
Monday, June 21, 2010
TITLE PSALM
TITLE PSALM
Prophet of Prophets – Lord of Birds –
Leader of Angels – King of Words –
Shepherd of Sparrows – Friend of Friends –
Healer of Lepers – Man who Mends.
(31 May 2010, Provo, Utah)
Prophet of Prophets – Lord of Birds –
Leader of Angels – King of Words –
Shepherd of Sparrows – Friend of Friends –
Healer of Lepers – Man who Mends.
(31 May 2010, Provo, Utah)
CARDINAL PSALM
CARDINAL PSALM
Of all the winds that wind the Earth,
Which one will take you home?
The Zephyr of the Occident?
The polar blast from Nome?
The capillary canyon breeze?
The gusts of discontent?
The whispers of the Orient?
Or greasewood’s southern scent?
(25 May 2010, Glendale, Arizona)
Of all the winds that wind the Earth,
Which one will take you home?
The Zephyr of the Occident?
The polar blast from Nome?
The capillary canyon breeze?
The gusts of discontent?
The whispers of the Orient?
Or greasewood’s southern scent?
(25 May 2010, Glendale, Arizona)
NOTEBOOK PSALM
NOTEBOOK PSALM
This verse is like an Amulet –
A frontlet for my eyes –
A scripture for remembering
The statutes that I prize.
A parchment for my ponderings –
A chaplet for my deeds –
A manuscript recovering
My covenants and creeds.
(9 May 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
This verse is like an Amulet –
A frontlet for my eyes –
A scripture for remembering
The statutes that I prize.
A parchment for my ponderings –
A chaplet for my deeds –
A manuscript recovering
My covenants and creeds.
(9 May 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
CAUSE/EFFECT PSALM
CAUSE/EFFECT PSALM (for Galway Kinnell)
If agency has consequence,
How can Atonement win?
How can the Blood make recompense –
The Spirit rinse our sin?
The Harmless One who did no wrong
Had most to overcome –
He suffered more than penalty
For wrongs He had not done.
In spite of overwhelming faults,
Self-pity is now gone –
Remitted by the grace of Good –
The stirring of the Swan.
(9 May 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
If agency has consequence,
How can Atonement win?
How can the Blood make recompense –
The Spirit rinse our sin?
The Harmless One who did no wrong
Had most to overcome –
He suffered more than penalty
For wrongs He had not done.
In spite of overwhelming faults,
Self-pity is now gone –
Remitted by the grace of Good –
The stirring of the Swan.
(9 May 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
CONFIDENT PSALM
CONFIDENT PSALM
The compliment was never meant
To flatter nor to tempt –
Although the gesture gathered her
There was no vain intent.
The unanticipated words –
Spontaneous attempt
To comfort someone desolate
With message heaven-sent.
(7 June 2010, Provo, Utah)
The compliment was never meant
To flatter nor to tempt –
Although the gesture gathered her
There was no vain intent.
The unanticipated words –
Spontaneous attempt
To comfort someone desolate
With message heaven-sent.
(7 June 2010, Provo, Utah)
LIMERICK LIMERICK
LIMERICK LIMERICK
There was a new tourist in Limerick
Who witnessed a riverside pick-e-nick –
The white swans were feeding –
The sun was receding
Along Shannon River Bridge – gliding quick.
(21 June 2001, Ireland, just for fun)
There was a new tourist in Limerick
Who witnessed a riverside pick-e-nick –
The white swans were feeding –
The sun was receding
Along Shannon River Bridge – gliding quick.
(21 June 2001, Ireland, just for fun)
REST PSALM
REST PSALM
I slept as deep as DNA –
Like waves of drenching rain –
I lumbered through a maze of dream –
Like fields of heady grain.
I rested sweet as innocence –
A newly lathered lamb –
I lumbered on ungainly feet –
Forgetting who I am.
(13 June 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
I slept as deep as DNA –
Like waves of drenching rain –
I lumbered through a maze of dream –
Like fields of heady grain.
I rested sweet as innocence –
A newly lathered lamb –
I lumbered on ungainly feet –
Forgetting who I am.
(13 June 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
Sunday, May 30, 2010
SWALLET PSALM
SWALLET PSALM
I saw in dream a citadel –
A mountain castle Tor –
A strait and narrow grass-lined Path
Led to its arching Door.
I walked the line without a doubt –
(Like Montezuma’s Well – )
The Gate contained Another World
Where new Musicians dwell.
The inner space was lined with rows –
The concourses were long –
And All were tuning Instruments
Preparing for His Song.
An irrigating spring of life
Passed to the other side –
Where watercress and maiden-hair
In mottled shade reside.
The creosote was breathing scent –
The sycamore was firm –
I paused to take the medicine
That flourished in the berm.
(6 May 2010, Rimrock Arizona, common meter)
QUILT PSALM
QUILT PSALM
Thou Art the Part that means the Whole –
Thou Art are the veiled Gestalt –
Thou Art are the Body for the Soul –
The Might that may Exalt.
Out of Small things proceeding Great –
Out of the Dust a Breath –
Out of the Earth a grander Fate –
The Life that hampers Death.
Thou Art the Symbol and the Sign –
Thou Art the Sacrament –
Thou Art the delicate Design
That Love can Represent.
Into Thy Covenant we Come –
Into the Promised Land –
Into the Fulness of all Time –
The Power of Thy Hand.
(23 March 2010, Provo, common meter, 8-6-8-6)
Thursday, May 13, 2010
SUPERVERSIVE PSALM
SUPERVERSIVE PSALM
Elias is a Priesthood role
Of bi-valve Presidence –
It stands for Preparation’s call
And Restorations hence.
Aaronic and Melchizedek –
Authority and Power
To bless the Families of the Earth
With Exaltation’s Dower.
(13 May 2010, Provo, Utah)
Elias is a Priesthood role
Of bi-valve Presidence –
It stands for Preparation’s call
And Restorations hence.
Aaronic and Melchizedek –
Authority and Power
To bless the Families of the Earth
With Exaltation’s Dower.
(13 May 2010, Provo, Utah)
Sunday, May 9, 2010
GLIMMER PSALM
GLIMMER PSALM
The waning moon will glide the lake
Although with thinner watt –
I’ll focus on the dimmer light
Instead of what she’s not.
The slimmest glow is better than
The somnolence of naught –
The nocturne is not permanent
If I gleam as I ought.
(14 April 2010)
The waning moon will glide the lake
Although with thinner watt –
I’ll focus on the dimmer light
Instead of what she’s not.
The slimmest glow is better than
The somnolence of naught –
The nocturne is not permanent
If I gleam as I ought.
(14 April 2010)
RACHMANINOFF PSALM
RACHMANINOFF PSALM
He held his ears when critics scathed
His music “fit for hell” –
Concerto One was in-famous –
He shrank in stair-case cell.
He could not write for three more years
Until a hypnotist
Composed his mind – Concerto Two
Piano’s therapist.
He calmed the chords – he rolled the storms
With orchestra – He stunned –
Reviewers choked – could not refute
His heavenly refund.
(28 April 2010)
He held his ears when critics scathed
His music “fit for hell” –
Concerto One was in-famous –
He shrank in stair-case cell.
He could not write for three more years
Until a hypnotist
Composed his mind – Concerto Two
Piano’s therapist.
He calmed the chords – he rolled the storms
With orchestra – He stunned –
Reviewers choked – could not refute
His heavenly refund.
(28 April 2010)
GIFT PSALM
GIFT PSALM
The Holy Ghost is a Poet –
The Principal of Words –
He teaches us pure languages –
His gifts are sure rewards.
The gift of tongues is evident
When He refines our thought –
We speak with wisdom, faith, and truth
When we share what He taught.
(18 April 2010)
The Holy Ghost is a Poet –
The Principal of Words –
He teaches us pure languages –
His gifts are sure rewards.
The gift of tongues is evident
When He refines our thought –
We speak with wisdom, faith, and truth
When we share what He taught.
(18 April 2010)
PSEUDEPIGRAPHA PSALM
PSEUDEPIGRAPHA PSALM
Are we the actors on a stage
From ancient scripts reciting lines
Foretold by Sibyl and by Sage,
Performing roles, fulfilling signs?
Are we repeating timeless tales,
Renewing songs of strophic praise,
Our lives unrolled on storied trails
As we step through enscrolling days?
Are we the musing analogs
Of bygone oracles who knew
The temples and the synagogues,
The messengers of interview?
(18 April 2010)
Are we the actors on a stage
From ancient scripts reciting lines
Foretold by Sibyl and by Sage,
Performing roles, fulfilling signs?
Are we repeating timeless tales,
Renewing songs of strophic praise,
Our lives unrolled on storied trails
As we step through enscrolling days?
Are we the musing analogs
Of bygone oracles who knew
The temples and the synagogues,
The messengers of interview?
(18 April 2010)
REVELÉ PSALM
REVELÉ PSALM
The ballerina stretches long –
She flexes at the bar –
She strengthens muscles gracefully –
A slipper-pointed Star.
She channels energy with toes –
She signals with a glance –
A pirouette with spinning arms
Appoints her beveled Dance.
(16 April 2010)
The ballerina stretches long –
She flexes at the bar –
She strengthens muscles gracefully –
A slipper-pointed Star.
She channels energy with toes –
She signals with a glance –
A pirouette with spinning arms
Appoints her beveled Dance.
(16 April 2010)
SHAWL PSALM
SHAWL PSALM
The red shawl is a scarlet braid,
A cord, a rope of hope,
A sunset in a grave of yarn,
A way to grieve and cope.
The red shawl is a burial,
A resurrection cue,
A comforter for heavy loss,
Relief beyond our view.
(17 January 2010)
The red shawl is a scarlet braid,
A cord, a rope of hope,
A sunset in a grave of yarn,
A way to grieve and cope.
The red shawl is a burial,
A resurrection cue,
A comforter for heavy loss,
Relief beyond our view.
(17 January 2010)
CHEER PSALM
CHEER PSALM
Turn off the night-light – start the day –
Stretch – thank the Lord for life – kneel – pray –
Sing a hymn of praise – read a verse –
Fill the record sheet – journal words –
Take a shower – dress – eat some food –
Smile – drive – work hard – have fun – live good.
(16 January 2010)
Turn off the night-light – start the day –
Stretch – thank the Lord for life – kneel – pray –
Sing a hymn of praise – read a verse –
Fill the record sheet – journal words –
Take a shower – dress – eat some food –
Smile – drive – work hard – have fun – live good.
(16 January 2010)
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
THANKFUL PSALM
THANKFUL PSALM
I thank Thee for His suffering –
His selflessness – His grace
I thank Thee for His sacrifice –
His smiling shining face –
I thank Thee for courageous faith –
Salvation’s avenues –
I thank Thee for outrageous hope –
Creation’s purlieus.
(25 April 2010)
I thank Thee for His suffering –
His selflessness – His grace
I thank Thee for His sacrifice –
His smiling shining face –
I thank Thee for courageous faith –
Salvation’s avenues –
I thank Thee for outrageous hope –
Creation’s purlieus.
(25 April 2010)
NEST PSALM
NEST PSALM (Mormon 9:15, Moroni 7:35)
The signs and wonders have not ceased –
Real miracles exist –
And Faith is still the sustenance
On which we may subsist.
God has not ceased to be a God –
His works are marvelous –
Cry mightily to Him in prayer –
Faith is miraculous.
An owl is nesting on a ledge –
She rests her golden eyes
Upon us – watching on the edge
Of wisdom’s next surprise.
(19 April 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
The signs and wonders have not ceased –
Real miracles exist –
And Faith is still the sustenance
On which we may subsist.
God has not ceased to be a God –
His works are marvelous –
Cry mightily to Him in prayer –
Faith is miraculous.
An owl is nesting on a ledge –
She rests her golden eyes
Upon us – watching on the edge
Of wisdom’s next surprise.
(19 April 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
ALMA 5 PSALM
ALMA 5 PSALM (For Virtue 3)
I remember their captivity –
Destruction was dispelled –
His mercy and long-suffering
Delivered them from hell.
The bands of death were broken – Yes –
The chains of hate were loosed –
Their souls expanded, and they sang
Redeeming love and truth.
On what conditions were they saved?
What grounds had they to hope?
What is the cause of broken bands?
What burst the chains? Who spoke?
The prophets spoke the words of God –
A mighty change was wrought –
And their Redemptive song of love
By Jesus Christ was bought.
Is my spirit born of God?
Is His image in my face?
Is my countenance engraved
With the light of mighty change?
My Maker will redeem me –
He paid the dowry fee –
My eye of faith can see Him –
His suffering on the Tree.
The price of incorruption
And immortality –
I’ll stand to hear His judgment
Of my mortality.
Can I imagine He will say:
“Come unto me, be blessed –
For – all your days upon the earth
Are works of righteousness?”
Or do I think that I can lie –
And He will save me when
My daily acts of wickedness
Are obvious as sin?
(January - February 2010)
I remember their captivity –
Destruction was dispelled –
His mercy and long-suffering
Delivered them from hell.
The bands of death were broken – Yes –
The chains of hate were loosed –
Their souls expanded, and they sang
Redeeming love and truth.
On what conditions were they saved?
What grounds had they to hope?
What is the cause of broken bands?
What burst the chains? Who spoke?
The prophets spoke the words of God –
A mighty change was wrought –
And their Redemptive song of love
By Jesus Christ was bought.
Is my spirit born of God?
Is His image in my face?
Is my countenance engraved
With the light of mighty change?
My Maker will redeem me –
He paid the dowry fee –
My eye of faith can see Him –
His suffering on the Tree.
The price of incorruption
And immortality –
I’ll stand to hear His judgment
Of my mortality.
Can I imagine He will say:
“Come unto me, be blessed –
For – all your days upon the earth
Are works of righteousness?”
Or do I think that I can lie –
And He will save me when
My daily acts of wickedness
Are obvious as sin?
(January - February 2010)
FOR THE STRENGTH OF FAMILIES
FOR THE STRENGTH OF FAMILIES (VIRTUE 1: Family Proclamation)
The blessings of living purely
Are peace, firmness of mind –
Our confidence waxes surely –
We enter, we receive, we find.
The thoughts we garnish with virtue
Are armor against sin –
We lengthen words and strengthen stakes –
All safely gathered in.
(14 January 2010)
The blessings of living purely
Are peace, firmness of mind –
Our confidence waxes surely –
We enter, we receive, we find.
The thoughts we garnish with virtue
Are armor against sin –
We lengthen words and strengthen stakes –
All safely gathered in.
(14 January 2010)
VIRTUE 2 PSALM
VIRTUE 2 PSALM (DC 88:3-4)
My Promise is the Comforter –
He gives eternal life –
A kingdom that’s celestial –
A glory born in Christ.
For glory to the Firstborn Church –
The Holiest of All
Descended – Comprehended light –
Restored both great and small.
(12 January 2010)
My Promise is the Comforter –
He gives eternal life –
A kingdom that’s celestial –
A glory born in Christ.
For glory to the Firstborn Church –
The Holiest of All
Descended – Comprehended light –
Restored both great and small.
(12 January 2010)
RUBY PSALM
RUBY PSALM (for VIRTUE 1; Proverbs 31:10-31)
Virtue is dearer than rubies –
Give her the fruit of her hands –
Beauty is vain – let works praise her –
Safe is the heart of her man.
She will do good and not evil –
All of the days of her life –
She looketh well to her household –
She is an excellent wife.
She seeketh wool and the spindle –
She bringeth food from afar –
She maketh linen and purple –
Stretches her hand to the poor.
She riseth while it is yet night –
Her candle never goes out –
Kindness is her native language –
Wisdom the law of mouth.
Virtue adorns many daughters –
She shall rejoice in her field –
Covered with honor and blessings –
Her vineyard’s bounteous yield.
(11 January 2010)
Virtue is dearer than rubies –
Give her the fruit of her hands –
Beauty is vain – let works praise her –
Safe is the heart of her man.
She will do good and not evil –
All of the days of her life –
She looketh well to her household –
She is an excellent wife.
She seeketh wool and the spindle –
She bringeth food from afar –
She maketh linen and purple –
Stretches her hand to the poor.
She riseth while it is yet night –
Her candle never goes out –
Kindness is her native language –
Wisdom the law of mouth.
Virtue adorns many daughters –
She shall rejoice in her field –
Covered with honor and blessings –
Her vineyard’s bounteous yield.
(11 January 2010)
PSALMS FOR VIRTUE 2
PSALMS FOR VIRTUE 2 (John 14:26-27, 15:16; 2 Nephi 32:1-5; DC 45:57-59)
“When all that was promised / The Saints will be given / And they will be crowned / With the angels in heaven” (LDS Hymn #2)
The Comforter brings Holiness
With Christmas Spirit wings –
Sent by the Father in Christ’s name –
He teaches us all things.
The Comforter will come
To testify of Christ –
The Father send the Spirit’s truth
As precedent for sight.
The Holy Ghost gives angel tongues –
Reveals what we should do –
Shows how to flourish in the light –
Delights in words of truth.
Victor who overcomes is crowned –
Coronation – King – Queen –
Crowned in glory – Blessed with renown –
Anointing – Priestess – Priest –
Child of God – enter His presence
Holy of Holies– Temple essence.
(7-10 January 2010)
“When all that was promised / The Saints will be given / And they will be crowned / With the angels in heaven” (LDS Hymn #2)
The Comforter brings Holiness
With Christmas Spirit wings –
Sent by the Father in Christ’s name –
He teaches us all things.
The Comforter will come
To testify of Christ –
The Father send the Spirit’s truth
As precedent for sight.
The Holy Ghost gives angel tongues –
Reveals what we should do –
Shows how to flourish in the light –
Delights in words of truth.
Victor who overcomes is crowned –
Coronation – King – Queen –
Crowned in glory – Blessed with renown –
Anointing – Priestess – Priest –
Child of God – enter His presence
Holy of Holies– Temple essence.
(7-10 January 2010)
PSALMS FOR VIRTUE 1
PSALMS FOR VIRTUE 1 (Jacob 2:7, 2:28; Article of Faith 13)
The Lord delights in chastity –
Our God is pleased when we
Have feelings tender, delicate
That wounded hearts may heal.
Believe in being honest – true –
In doing good to all –
In being chaste – benevolent –
And heed the words of Paul:
Believe and hope – endure all things –
If anything is good
Or virtuous – or praiseworthy –
Seek loveliness in God.
(4-5 January 2010)
The Lord delights in chastity –
Our God is pleased when we
Have feelings tender, delicate
That wounded hearts may heal.
Believe in being honest – true –
In doing good to all –
In being chaste – benevolent –
And heed the words of Paul:
Believe and hope – endure all things –
If anything is good
Or virtuous – or praiseworthy –
Seek loveliness in God.
(4-5 January 2010)
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
MEEK PSALM
MEEK PSALM
The circle seems shrinking in scope –
The power to persuade
Seems smaller – in spite of my hope –
Though He does not upbraid.
As long as He asks me to trust –
I will not be afraid
To speak – imperfect though – I must –
Accept the gift He paid.
(8 April 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
The circle seems shrinking in scope –
The power to persuade
Seems smaller – in spite of my hope –
Though He does not upbraid.
As long as He asks me to trust –
I will not be afraid
To speak – imperfect though – I must –
Accept the gift He paid.
(8 April 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
LABOR PSALM
LABOR PSALM
Where is the portal to slumber?
Where is the door to sleep?
I’m not just asking the number –
I need to find the keep.
Where is the key to quietus?
Where is the requiem?
I’m not quite ready for mortis –
Just room in Bethlehem.
(5 April 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
Where is the portal to slumber?
Where is the door to sleep?
I’m not just asking the number –
I need to find the keep.
Where is the key to quietus?
Where is the requiem?
I’m not quite ready for mortis –
Just room in Bethlehem.
(5 April 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
GATE PSALM
GATE PSALM (2 Nephi 31:21)
No other name – No other way –
Can any soul be saved –
Save through His life – Save through His truth
Be holiness engraved.
Whatever trust – soever faith –
Depend on love He gave –
Grace through His word – Grace through His work
By expiation braved.
(5 April 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
No other name – No other way –
Can any soul be saved –
Save through His life – Save through His truth
Be holiness engraved.
Whatever trust – soever faith –
Depend on love He gave –
Grace through His word – Grace through His work
By expiation braved.
(5 April 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
ZENITH PSALM
ZENITH PSALM
My slow descent meets your ascent
In affable event –
Crescendo thine is my decline –
Diminuendo sign.
My calm assent treats your consent
With cordial content –
Assertion mine is thy opine
As though the notes align.
(2 April 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
My slow descent meets your ascent
In affable event –
Crescendo thine is my decline –
Diminuendo sign.
My calm assent treats your consent
With cordial content –
Assertion mine is thy opine
As though the notes align.
(2 April 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
WATCH PSALM
WATCH PSALM (for Phillip Keller)
It’s hard for sheep to fall asleep –
They need a Shepherd’s care –
They need a harp or pan-pipe flute –
They need a soothing prayer.
They need the pasture – high and green –
They need the waters pure –
They need His rod and staff to lead –
To rescue – to assure.
They need the oil upon their heads –
They need the dipping bath
To quench the biting pestilence –
They need the balm He hath.
They need the spreading table land –
Protection from the Beast –
When in the shadows of death’s vale –
They need Him – Best and Least.
(31 March 2010, Pleasant Grove)
It’s hard for sheep to fall asleep –
They need a Shepherd’s care –
They need a harp or pan-pipe flute –
They need a soothing prayer.
They need the pasture – high and green –
They need the waters pure –
They need His rod and staff to lead –
To rescue – to assure.
They need the oil upon their heads –
They need the dipping bath
To quench the biting pestilence –
They need the balm He hath.
They need the spreading table land –
Protection from the Beast –
When in the shadows of death’s vale –
They need Him – Best and Least.
(31 March 2010, Pleasant Grove)
LEARNED PSALM
LEARNED PSALM
Imperial, the pride we grab –
Antithesis of wise –
Innocuous our envy seems –
Until we compromise.
Invidious, the arrogance –
The opposite of meek –
A penetrating cruelty
Impervious to needs –
(28 March 2010, Pleasant Grove)
Imperial, the pride we grab –
Antithesis of wise –
Innocuous our envy seems –
Until we compromise.
Invidious, the arrogance –
The opposite of meek –
A penetrating cruelty
Impervious to needs –
(28 March 2010, Pleasant Grove)
Saturday, March 27, 2010
SOLO PSALM
SOLO PSALM
I did not choose to live alone –
All self was not intended –
I followed promptings step by step
Wherever wisdom wended.
I have to move (I can’t be still –
All sitting makes me slumber)
Until my singular estate
Acquires the plural number.
(about 27 February 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
I did not choose to live alone –
All self was not intended –
I followed promptings step by step
Wherever wisdom wended.
I have to move (I can’t be still –
All sitting makes me slumber)
Until my singular estate
Acquires the plural number.
(about 27 February 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
QUESTION PSALM
QUESTION PSALM
The Lord of Hosts did hear my prayer –
I felt His hand take mine –
He answered through these measured words –
Inscripted line by line.
The Bard of Bards is listening
To every earnest plea –
His revelations permeate
My densest inquiry.
(5 March 2010, Provo, Utah)
The Lord of Hosts did hear my prayer –
I felt His hand take mine –
He answered through these measured words –
Inscripted line by line.
The Bard of Bards is listening
To every earnest plea –
His revelations permeate
My densest inquiry.
(5 March 2010, Provo, Utah)
MERCY PSALM
MERCY PSALM
The Lord stretches, etches, reaches
The bows of covenant –
His body wracked with righteousness –
His hands extending yet.
The Son blesses, teaches, touches
The kin of continents –
His message wrapped in tenderness
Awaiting our consent.
(10 March 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
The Lord stretches, etches, reaches
The bows of covenant –
His body wracked with righteousness –
His hands extending yet.
The Son blesses, teaches, touches
The kin of continents –
His message wrapped in tenderness
Awaiting our consent.
(10 March 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
COMPOSER PSALM
COMPOSER PSALM
These words are waiting for the tunes
That voices will provide –
Without the music they are null –
Mere tokens to confide.
Thy melodies – with harmonies –
Will make them come alive –
This reticence is silent sign
Until the notes arrive.
(13 March 2010, Provo, Utah)
These words are waiting for the tunes
That voices will provide –
Without the music they are null –
Mere tokens to confide.
Thy melodies – with harmonies –
Will make them come alive –
This reticence is silent sign
Until the notes arrive.
(13 March 2010, Provo, Utah)
TIMPANOGOS PSALM
TIMPANOGOS PSALM
The sky shone through the Chandelier –
The Tree of Gold held Light –
Reflections flickered on the Dome
Ineffably as sight.
The Life shown by the Holy One –
A Pharos for our feet –
Is glimmering with promises
Indelible and fleet.
The Lamb shorn by Mortality
Is crowned the Lamp of Kings –
The shimmer of His Shepherding
Investitures all things.
(27 March 2010, American Fork, Utah)
The sky shone through the Chandelier –
The Tree of Gold held Light –
Reflections flickered on the Dome
Ineffably as sight.
The Life shown by the Holy One –
A Pharos for our feet –
Is glimmering with promises
Indelible and fleet.
The Lamb shorn by Mortality
Is crowned the Lamp of Kings –
The shimmer of His Shepherding
Investitures all things.
(27 March 2010, American Fork, Utah)
RECOVERY PSALM
RECOVERY PSALM
I walked along the Galilee
A year ago this way –
The moon was playing lost and found
In clouds of silky whey.
I paced the shore of rippled silt –
Light lapped across the bay
As lunar Levitation sank
Into the cusp of day.
(25 March 2010, Provo, Utah)
I walked along the Galilee
A year ago this way –
The moon was playing lost and found
In clouds of silky whey.
I paced the shore of rippled silt –
Light lapped across the bay
As lunar Levitation sank
Into the cusp of day.
(25 March 2010, Provo, Utah)
Friday, March 12, 2010
BUFFER PSALM
BUFFER PSALM
We need some space to make mistakes
So we can draw the line
As far away from wickedness
As we can safely climb.
We need a cushion for our falls –
A zone where we can cope
With unexpected challenges
On freedom’s anchored rope.
(7 March 2010)
We need some space to make mistakes
So we can draw the line
As far away from wickedness
As we can safely climb.
We need a cushion for our falls –
A zone where we can cope
With unexpected challenges
On freedom’s anchored rope.
(7 March 2010)
CHOPIN PSALM
CHOPIN PSALM
Song is the play of the fingers –
The dancing on the keys –
The corp ballet – the wrist plie –
The leaping melodies –
The pointing of the Polonaise –
The lullaby Berceuse –
The twirling Nocturne s’il vous plait
The pas de dieux Etudes.
(2 March 2010, Provo, Utah)
Song is the play of the fingers –
The dancing on the keys –
The corp ballet – the wrist plie –
The leaping melodies –
The pointing of the Polonaise –
The lullaby Berceuse –
The twirling Nocturne s’il vous plait
The pas de dieux Etudes.
(2 March 2010, Provo, Utah)
PSALM FOR MISS WINGFIELD
PSALM FOR MISS WINGFIELD
The inner life of elegance
Is awkward to explain –
The outer life of awkwardness
Is elegant, if plain.
The dimmer glow of candlelight
Is softer to perceive –
The brighter candelabra flame
Is harder to receive.
The later dance of confidence
Is simple to forget –
The early steps of shy romance
Are harder to regret.
(2 March 2010)
The inner life of elegance
Is awkward to explain –
The outer life of awkwardness
Is elegant, if plain.
The dimmer glow of candlelight
Is softer to perceive –
The brighter candelabra flame
Is harder to receive.
The later dance of confidence
Is simple to forget –
The early steps of shy romance
Are harder to regret.
(2 March 2010)
HOPE PSALM
HOPE PSALM
It’s True but not yet real –
The love we often feel –
Conditional as steel
Before the firm anneal.
Becoming as a child
Requires growing up –
Remaining ignorant
Is no accomplishment.
(1 March 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
It’s True but not yet real –
The love we often feel –
Conditional as steel
Before the firm anneal.
Becoming as a child
Requires growing up –
Remaining ignorant
Is no accomplishment.
(1 March 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
PSALM FOR LIGHTNING BUGS
PSALM FOR LIGHTNING BUGS (For AY)
For you, my friend, these poems have come –
Whoever you may be –
For you the posies ring around
My notebook rosary.
For you, the verses turn me to
Wherever you may dwell –
For you, the stanzas laugh out loud
And make the jingles bell.
(24 February 2010)
For you, my friend, these poems have come –
Whoever you may be –
For you the posies ring around
My notebook rosary.
For you, the verses turn me to
Wherever you may dwell –
For you, the stanzas laugh out loud
And make the jingles bell.
(24 February 2010)
SLUMBER
SLUMBER
The underlying circumstance
Of asphodels and lilies –
The overarching precipice
Of atmospheric valleys.
The renovating somnolence
Of beta wave and delta –
The calibrating solitude
Of hibernating shelter.
(22 February 2010)
The underlying circumstance
Of asphodels and lilies –
The overarching precipice
Of atmospheric valleys.
The renovating somnolence
Of beta wave and delta –
The calibrating solitude
Of hibernating shelter.
(22 February 2010)
NEVER THE LESS
NEVER THE LESS
Embarrassing to be mere man –
So great and yet so small –
So pitiful yet elegant –
To dance and then to crawl.
Humiliating ignorance –
And yet a spark divine –
Exhilarates intelligence –
How rude and yet so fine.
(22 February 2010)
Embarrassing to be mere man –
So great and yet so small –
So pitiful yet elegant –
To dance and then to crawl.
Humiliating ignorance –
And yet a spark divine –
Exhilarates intelligence –
How rude and yet so fine.
(22 February 2010)
SACRAMENT
SACRAMENT
Thorns on the head – spear to the heart –
Stripes at the back – blood from the hands –
Wounds in the wrists – nails for the feet –
Witness the wounds of Calvary.
Sins of the mind – hardness of heart –
Bites at the back – sleight of the hands –
Stiffness of neck – slips of the tongue –
Confess drops of Gethsemane.
(21 February 2010, Sunday)
Thorns on the head – spear to the heart –
Stripes at the back – blood from the hands –
Wounds in the wrists – nails for the feet –
Witness the wounds of Calvary.
Sins of the mind – hardness of heart –
Bites at the back – sleight of the hands –
Stiffness of neck – slips of the tongue –
Confess drops of Gethsemane.
(21 February 2010, Sunday)
Thursday, March 11, 2010
OWL CITY
OWL CITY
After you burned me
I found a new flame –
After you spurned me
I learned a new name.
After you left me
I turned a new leaf –
When you bereft me
The rift brought relief.
(19 February 2010)
After you burned me
I found a new flame –
After you spurned me
I learned a new name.
After you left me
I turned a new leaf –
When you bereft me
The rift brought relief.
(19 February 2010)
THE BRACELET
THE BRACELET (For JS and AHK)
Our vanity is deadly sin –
It marks us for decease –
And envy is a fatal flaw –
Increasing our decrease.
Humility is close to earth
With gratitude in kind –
Tranquility is selflessness
In action, speech, and mind.
(20 February 2010)
Our vanity is deadly sin –
It marks us for decease –
And envy is a fatal flaw –
Increasing our decrease.
Humility is close to earth
With gratitude in kind –
Tranquility is selflessness
In action, speech, and mind.
(20 February 2010)
WORTH
WORTH
On my side, nothing much is left –
On Thy side, everything –
Thy promises are still intact –
And winter will cede spring.
In my life, time is long ingrained
With “furrows on the glow” –
In Thy time, love will come to pass
In ways we cannot know.
In Thy plan, every soul has worth –
Thy work and glory be
To bring to pass eternal life
And Immortality.
(16 February 2010)
On my side, nothing much is left –
On Thy side, everything –
Thy promises are still intact –
And winter will cede spring.
In my life, time is long ingrained
With “furrows on the glow” –
In Thy time, love will come to pass
In ways we cannot know.
In Thy plan, every soul has worth –
Thy work and glory be
To bring to pass eternal life
And Immortality.
(16 February 2010)
Thursday, February 25, 2010
SOLACE
SOLACE
Come down to Galilee, my child –
Come board the boat with me –
Come sail upon the fluted tide –
I’ll navigate the sea.
Come leave the sheltered beach behind –
Come watch the welkins breathe –
Come meditate on storms gone by
When I told waves to cease.
Come help me bring the daylight in –
Step out and follow me –
Come walk upon the water’s skin
With true theology.
Come wade upon a miracle –
Come take the hand I give –
With courage unequivocal
Forsake your fear and live.
(14 February, 2010, Glendale, Arizona)
Come down to Galilee, my child –
Come board the boat with me –
Come sail upon the fluted tide –
I’ll navigate the sea.
Come leave the sheltered beach behind –
Come watch the welkins breathe –
Come meditate on storms gone by
When I told waves to cease.
Come help me bring the daylight in –
Step out and follow me –
Come walk upon the water’s skin
With true theology.
Come wade upon a miracle –
Come take the hand I give –
With courage unequivocal
Forsake your fear and live.
(14 February, 2010, Glendale, Arizona)
Friday, February 5, 2010
SLAKE
SLAKE (DC 27:15-18)
We take the shield of Faith wherewith
We quench the darts of fire –
We wear the armor to withstand
The Adversary’s ire.
How do we gird our loins with Truth
To banish wickedness?
How do we put the breastplate on
To stand in Righteousness?
How do we shoe our feet with Peace?
Where is the Spirit’s sword?
The helmet of Salvation is
The cup where Light is poured.
(3 February 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
We take the shield of Faith wherewith
We quench the darts of fire –
We wear the armor to withstand
The Adversary’s ire.
How do we gird our loins with Truth
To banish wickedness?
How do we put the breastplate on
To stand in Righteousness?
How do we shoe our feet with Peace?
Where is the Spirit’s sword?
The helmet of Salvation is
The cup where Light is poured.
(3 February 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
METRONYMS
METRONYMS
It’s hard to sing a sonnet
So I write verse instead –
These shorter lines are honest
If not magnificent.
You might prefer a novel
Or Eisteddfod in Welsh
And not these simple comments
Predicable as self.
But writing them makes meters –
And rhythm leads to rhyme –
Devotion has its power
As metronome for Time.
(2 February 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
It’s hard to sing a sonnet
So I write verse instead –
These shorter lines are honest
If not magnificent.
You might prefer a novel
Or Eisteddfod in Welsh
And not these simple comments
Predicable as self.
But writing them makes meters –
And rhythm leads to rhyme –
Devotion has its power
As metronome for Time.
(2 February 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
NOW
NOW
Hell is here – not far away –
In bad we do – in ill we say –
It’s not some future sulphur pit –
It’s what we choose that doesn’t fit
Our pure eternal destiny –
Our clean divine identity.
(Sunday, 31 January, 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
Hell is here – not far away –
In bad we do – in ill we say –
It’s not some future sulphur pit –
It’s what we choose that doesn’t fit
Our pure eternal destiny –
Our clean divine identity.
(Sunday, 31 January, 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
LESSONS
LESSONS (DC 138:56)
What does it mean to remember
One I never have seen?
Ponder His deeds and His sayings?
What does remembrance mean?
Does it mean we were together?
Before we came to earth?
Does it mean we walked with Jesus
Before our mortal birth?
Was I among the starred angels
Who sang with joy for Him?
Did we play harps with golden strings
In strains of lyric hymn?
Was there a field of yellow blooms
Before the veil erased
The kindness of His countenance –
The vision of His face?
(1 February 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
What does it mean to remember
One I never have seen?
Ponder His deeds and His sayings?
What does remembrance mean?
Does it mean we were together?
Before we came to earth?
Does it mean we walked with Jesus
Before our mortal birth?
Was I among the starred angels
Who sang with joy for Him?
Did we play harps with golden strings
In strains of lyric hymn?
Was there a field of yellow blooms
Before the veil erased
The kindness of His countenance –
The vision of His face?
(1 February 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
SPACIOUS
SPACIOUS
There will be some who mock –
There will be some who shame –
There will be some who try to curse
Their Neighbor’s crystal name.
There will be some who blame –
There will be some who scorn –
There will be some who steal your joy
And taunt you when you mourn.
Some people will ignore –
There will be some who sneer –
And some will call the bitter “Sweet”
And call your courage “Fear.”
There will be those who cheer –
There will be those who pray –
There will be those who honor you –
There will be Mercy’s Day.
(Sunday, 31 January, 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
There will be some who mock –
There will be some who shame –
There will be some who try to curse
Their Neighbor’s crystal name.
There will be some who blame –
There will be some who scorn –
There will be some who steal your joy
And taunt you when you mourn.
Some people will ignore –
There will be some who sneer –
And some will call the bitter “Sweet”
And call your courage “Fear.”
There will be those who cheer –
There will be those who pray –
There will be those who honor you –
There will be Mercy’s Day.
(Sunday, 31 January, 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
ESSENCE
ESSENCE (Luke 1:80)
It may be John the Baptist’s home –
The desert near Qumran –
Was where brave parents hid their sons
From Herod’s slaughter-arm.
Perhaps the Nazarites fled to
A wilderness of caves
And set themselves apart from dearth –
Awaiting He who saves.
And there, the child grew, waxing strong
In spirit – til the Day
When he returned to Israel
To clear the Savior’s way –
Preparing the Messiah’s path
With Aaron’s budding rod –
He entered Jordan’s ancient font –
Baptized the Son of God.
(Sunday, 31 January, 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
It may be John the Baptist’s home –
The desert near Qumran –
Was where brave parents hid their sons
From Herod’s slaughter-arm.
Perhaps the Nazarites fled to
A wilderness of caves
And set themselves apart from dearth –
Awaiting He who saves.
And there, the child grew, waxing strong
In spirit – til the Day
When he returned to Israel
To clear the Savior’s way –
Preparing the Messiah’s path
With Aaron’s budding rod –
He entered Jordan’s ancient font –
Baptized the Son of God.
(Sunday, 31 January, 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
BUDGET PSALM
BUDGET
The waiting time is Equity –
The loneliness invests
A garment of tranquility –
The company of Guests
Who guide me from the Spirit World –
Lift up my chin and say,
“Be of good cheer, my little one.”
They wipe my tears away.
(23 January 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
The waiting time is Equity –
The loneliness invests
A garment of tranquility –
The company of Guests
Who guide me from the Spirit World –
Lift up my chin and say,
“Be of good cheer, my little one.”
They wipe my tears away.
(23 January 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
BY FIRE
BY FIRE PSALM (Alma 5)
I know that I was baptized in
The water – like the Son –
But have I been immersed in Light –
The Spirit’s remissión?
And have I felt the mighty change
Of heart that makes us One?
Or felt to sing redeeming love –
The Angels’ perfect tongue?
I know that I was born again
From Second Death of Sin –
But am I sanctified, refined,
And set apart for Him?
And am I rid of haughtiness,
Of mocking, envy, pride?
Have I put on the Holiness
For which the Savior died?
(Sunday, 31 January, 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
I know that I was baptized in
The water – like the Son –
But have I been immersed in Light –
The Spirit’s remissión?
And have I felt the mighty change
Of heart that makes us One?
Or felt to sing redeeming love –
The Angels’ perfect tongue?
I know that I was born again
From Second Death of Sin –
But am I sanctified, refined,
And set apart for Him?
And am I rid of haughtiness,
Of mocking, envy, pride?
Have I put on the Holiness
For which the Savior died?
(Sunday, 31 January, 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
DEVOID
DEVOID
The spotlessness was not elite –
Unblemished Lambs were sign
For all God’s kin premortally –
Perfected by design.
The comely Priests portrayed the Son –
He sinless – as were We
Before Probation’s mortal school
Allowed Iniquity.
(9 January 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
The spotlessness was not elite –
Unblemished Lambs were sign
For all God’s kin premortally –
Perfected by design.
The comely Priests portrayed the Son –
He sinless – as were We
Before Probation’s mortal school
Allowed Iniquity.
(9 January 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
MIRROR MAN
MIRROR MAN
At first you saw your good in his –
And then you see your flaw –
The flinching of the image bent –
The setting of the jaw.
The image has a double view –
A Doppelgänger rim –
Reflection has a benefit –
You learn a lot from him.
(21 November 2009, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
At first you saw your good in his –
And then you see your flaw –
The flinching of the image bent –
The setting of the jaw.
The image has a double view –
A Doppelgänger rim –
Reflection has a benefit –
You learn a lot from him.
(21 November 2009, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
HIMSELF
HIMSELF (Alma 42:14-15)
God Himself atones us
From all the World’s set stains –
Sacrifices selfhood –
Completely ascertains
The cleanliness we long for –
The spotlessness we crave –
The hope of new reunions
When we rise from the grave.
(7 October 2009, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
God Himself atones us
From all the World’s set stains –
Sacrifices selfhood –
Completely ascertains
The cleanliness we long for –
The spotlessness we crave –
The hope of new reunions
When we rise from the grave.
(7 October 2009, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
FEELINGS
FEELINGS (DC 129)
A Daimon can appear
As angel with appeal –
But when you ask to shake his hand
The phantom is not real.
A Being can approach
As spirit of the just –
He will not move – cannot deceive –
His message you can trust.
An Angel can approach
As courier of God –
He’ll offer you his outstretched palm
And greetings from the Lord.
(28 December 2009, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
A Daimon can appear
As angel with appeal –
But when you ask to shake his hand
The phantom is not real.
A Being can approach
As spirit of the just –
He will not move – cannot deceive –
His message you can trust.
An Angel can approach
As courier of God –
He’ll offer you his outstretched palm
And greetings from the Lord.
(28 December 2009, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
CONSOLIDATE
CONSOLIDATE (Mark 16:6)
Behold the Man they crucified
In anguish for our pain –
Behold the place – they laid Him where
No man had ever lain –
Behold the stone that rolled away
The bondage of the dead –
Behold the tomb – the empty place
Where angels stood instead –
Behold the maid who agonized –
“Where is my Loved One gone?”
Behold the Savior speak her name –
The Resurrected Son.
(7 January 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
Behold the Man they crucified
In anguish for our pain –
Behold the place – they laid Him where
No man had ever lain –
Behold the stone that rolled away
The bondage of the dead –
Behold the tomb – the empty place
Where angels stood instead –
Behold the maid who agonized –
“Where is my Loved One gone?”
Behold the Savior speak her name –
The Resurrected Son.
(7 January 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
ELIAS
ELIAS (for Sister Ellis; Alma 34:36)
“I know exactly who you are” –
The veil is very thin –
The generations reach for us –
Let temple work begin.
“I thought I was a nobody!”
As parent, husband, wife,
The temple is the center stake –
The circuit of our life.
His temple is a righteous heart –
His Spirit dwells within –
The love recorded on the earth
Is sealed by Seraphim.
(10 January 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
“I know exactly who you are” –
The veil is very thin –
The generations reach for us –
Let temple work begin.
“I thought I was a nobody!”
As parent, husband, wife,
The temple is the center stake –
The circuit of our life.
His temple is a righteous heart –
His Spirit dwells within –
The love recorded on the earth
Is sealed by Seraphim.
(10 January 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
PATRON
PATRON (for Calvert Watkins)
Each hero needs a poet’s fame –
Each champion needs a bard –
To sing his deeds – extol his name –
Reciprocal reward.
The bravest shepherd overcomes
The lion and the bear –
Then, as a warrior, he defeats
The dragon of the lair.
His battle valor wins a crown –
Anointed – laureled king –
His righteous rule provides the tale
That gifted harpers sing.
(20 January 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
Each hero needs a poet’s fame –
Each champion needs a bard –
To sing his deeds – extol his name –
Reciprocal reward.
The bravest shepherd overcomes
The lion and the bear –
Then, as a warrior, he defeats
The dragon of the lair.
His battle valor wins a crown –
Anointed – laureled king –
His righteous rule provides the tale
That gifted harpers sing.
(20 January 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
THANKS BE
THANKS BE
I’m grateful for surprises –
The sudden clemencies –
The subtle interventions –
The unexpected ease.
(17 December 2009, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
I’m grateful for surprises –
The sudden clemencies –
The subtle interventions –
The unexpected ease.
(17 December 2009, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
ON HIS OWN
ON HIS OWN
He came unto His own –
Laid down His life for friends –
Deflected the Accuser’s rage
With medicine that mends
The nations of the world –
The kingdom of the earth –
With comprehension so complete
That every soul has worth.
(22 December 2009, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
He came unto His own –
Laid down His life for friends –
Deflected the Accuser’s rage
With medicine that mends
The nations of the world –
The kingdom of the earth –
With comprehension so complete
That every soul has worth.
(22 December 2009, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
NEIGHBORS
NEIGHBORS
Eight deer are resting on the slope –
The watchful one alerts her pose
To watch me watching from the door –
I’m sowing birdseed on the porch.
The others waken from their bed –
From comforters that lightly spread
With sage and shadow as a screen –
Their soft hides hidden – sometimes seen.
(31 December 2009, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
Eight deer are resting on the slope –
The watchful one alerts her pose
To watch me watching from the door –
I’m sowing birdseed on the porch.
The others waken from their bed –
From comforters that lightly spread
With sage and shadow as a screen –
Their soft hides hidden – sometimes seen.
(31 December 2009, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
NIEVE
NIEVE
If snow comes from the heavens
And poetry is snow
And spring is resurrection –
Then verse will help us grow.
(30 December 2009, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
If snow comes from the heavens
And poetry is snow
And spring is resurrection –
Then verse will help us grow.
(30 December 2009, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
SOLSTICE PSALM
SOLSTICE PSALM
The days are getting longer now –
The sky is brightening –
And though the darkness drags its feet
The dawn is lightening.
I love the cresting luminance –
The incremental warm –
Such primavera promises
Hold amaranthine charm.
The latter days are lengthening –
Small things are waxing strong –
And though the earth is chilled with dusk
New advent won’t be long.
Before the world turns into dust
The Lord will come again –
The crystal seas will ripple praise
As Angels shout, “Amen.”
(3 January 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
The days are getting longer now –
The sky is brightening –
And though the darkness drags its feet
The dawn is lightening.
I love the cresting luminance –
The incremental warm –
Such primavera promises
Hold amaranthine charm.
The latter days are lengthening –
Small things are waxing strong –
And though the earth is chilled with dusk
New advent won’t be long.
Before the world turns into dust
The Lord will come again –
The crystal seas will ripple praise
As Angels shout, “Amen.”
(3 January 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
CURFEW PSALM
CURFEW PSALM
At times I cannot rest at night –
My body wants to sleep –
But little worries mutiny
And drive away the sheep.
I count my blessings anyway –
Review my covenants –
I read until my eyes are red –
I hush the arguments.
Then – while I’m fencing pirate rogues
A slumber boards the ship –
And furls the sail – takes back the wheel –
And into dreams I slip.
(3 January 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
At times I cannot rest at night –
My body wants to sleep –
But little worries mutiny
And drive away the sheep.
I count my blessings anyway –
Review my covenants –
I read until my eyes are red –
I hush the arguments.
Then – while I’m fencing pirate rogues
A slumber boards the ship –
And furls the sail – takes back the wheel –
And into dreams I slip.
(3 January 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
ARK PSALM
ARK PSALM (Mosiah 3:9; Moroni 9:9; for Virtue 1)
Most dear and precious of all things –
Most pleasing tenderness –
A golden ensign on a hill –
A type of endlessness –
The banner for the pure in heart –
A shawl of chastity –
The veil of Virtue’s timeless joy –
A cloak of charity –
A mantle made of miracles –
A garment delicate –
The wedding robe of righteousness
Is plain yet intricate.
A likeness – A similitude –
An altar, table, throne –
The body is a covenant –
He came unto His own.
(3 January 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
Most dear and precious of all things –
Most pleasing tenderness –
A golden ensign on a hill –
A type of endlessness –
The banner for the pure in heart –
A shawl of chastity –
The veil of Virtue’s timeless joy –
A cloak of charity –
A mantle made of miracles –
A garment delicate –
The wedding robe of righteousness
Is plain yet intricate.
A likeness – A similitude –
An altar, table, throne –
The body is a covenant –
He came unto His own.
(3 January 2010, Pleasant Grove, Utah)
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