RESURGAM PSALM

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)