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)

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)

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)

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)

RINK SONG

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

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)

HARVEST PSALM

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)

MEMORIAL PSALM

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)

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)

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.

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)

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)

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)

VERSE PSALM

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)

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

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

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

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)

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)