FOR ASLAN (Red Butte Garden, University of Utah, Salt Lake City)

 

FOR ASLAN

 

Such spring I’ve never seen before,

Such beauty bold and mild,

Such unabated blossoming,

Such growth of tame and wild.

 

Such flora in the garden red,

Such splendor in the light,

Such monarchs winging to and fro,

The sun laughs at the sight.

 

The tulips offer vibrant brows.

The lilacs wear perfume.

The iris buds play peek-a-boo.

Forsythia still blooms.

 

Quite soon the roses will debut

With dainty handkerchiefs.

The smiling thriving universe

Bestows its richest gifts.

 

(3 February 2021, Springville, Utah)

2020, Selected Poems & Psalms

 

            LIAHONA PSALM

 

The will to live is Faith –

The energy to Do.

Desire to act is Faith –

An Agent’s follow-through.

 

The heart of Faith is pow’r –

The courage to proceed.

The face of Faith is Hope –

The spirit’s Antecede.

 

The will to give is Faith –

A tendency to Care –

A moving principle –

Propensities to share.

 

The gist of Faith is life –

The Sister of Belief.

The seed of Faith is love –

The practice of Relief.

 

(4 February 2020, Springville, Utah)

 

 

            AURORA NOTE

 

Do Birds help bring the Dawn?

Does their song move the wind

That spins the clouds that turn the world

So morning can begin?

 

(4 February 2020, Springville, Utah)

 

 

            FIRST THINGS PSALM

 

God’s first love is Life –

His true love, Language –

God’s best love is Wife –

His real love, Music.

 

God’s first hope is Light –

His true hope, Vision –

God’s best hope is Sight –

His real hope, Wisdom.

 

God’s first word is Faith –

His true word, Belief –

God’s best word is Health –

His real word, Beloved.

 

(19 February 2020, Provo, Utah)

 

 

            ELEGY FOR FRAN

 

Amazing face –

How dear the smile

That cheered a child like me.

I was alone –

I found a friend –

She gave me family.

 

(Cedar Hills, Utah, 18 May 2020)

 

 

            EXCHANGE

 

We cannot be forgiven

Without learning to forgive.

We cannot be beloved

Without learning how to live.

We cannot be believing

Without learning how to love.

 

(Springville, Utah, 20 May 2020)

 

 

            THE GEM

 

You say that you’re Tornado, but

Your sister says you’re Calm.

You listen like a Laser beam

With ears and heart of Balm.

 

You say that you’re not Active, but

You never miss a Beat.

Perceiving an unspoken Need,

Your ministry is Fleet.

 

A Hurricane of losses is

No hindrance to your Mirth.

A load of heavy Burdens can’t

Disguise your vital Worth.

 

Too loyal to abandon Hope,

You give a Second Chance.

Too lively to relinquish Love,

You call us to the Dance.

 

(26 June 2010, Springville, Utah, 6:00am)

 

 

            THE SEER

 

You can see into souls

As you enter the scene.

You discern parts and wholes.

You distinguish between.

 

You can draw out a smile

As you banter the breeze.

While you name and compile,

You extinguish dis-ease.

 

You can make mountains stay

For the sake of your friends.

You did offer to pray.

You perceive what transcends.

 

You can sing to the deaf

By the hale of your speech.

You can bring light from death.

You receive what you reach.

 

(27 June 2020, Springville, Utah, 4:33am)

 

 

            MEDITATIONS

 

Seek ye first His Kingdom come.

Speak ye so: His Will be done.

Walk the Way of Worthiness.

Run to Him in Righteousness.

(5 December 2020, Springville)

 

Our Charity will never fail,

And Empathy will yet prevail.

The Beauty forged from ash remains

In spite of wind-tossed tempest pains.

(7 December 2020, Springville)

 

The Tent will be a Temple.

The Fall will help you rise.

Mistakes convert to Miracles.

Suspense turns to Surprise.

(9 December 2020, Springville)

 

 

            KINGFISHER

 

The Savior is a fisherman –

He casts with net – or line.

He works and waits with rod and reel –

In fresh seas – or in brine.

 

The Savior is the Fisher-King –

The azure diving Bird –

Who lifts us from the freezing Lake

And warms us with a Word,

 

Partakes us as His Sacrament,

Converts us into Flesh

With Flaming Tongues that translate fins

To wings of Nourishment.

 

(14 December 2020, Springville, Utah)

 

 

            TRAWLING

 

And so He calls us to the task

Of drawing others forth:

“Come follow me, and you’ll retrieve

My treasures of great worth.”

 

(15 December 2020, Springville)

2019, Selected Poems & Psalms

 

            GENERATIONS

 

Adam, our Father of language,

Dear Eve, our Mother of Life.

Father of brother and husband,

Mother of sister and wife,

Teach us to call upon Heaven:

Help us remain in the light.

Teach us to gather as families:

Help us remember and write.

 

(7 April 2019, Alpine, Utah)

 

 

            ALTERNATIVES

 

Exhilarated, not just exhausted.

Cross-referenced, not just acrostic.

Comprehensible, not just caustic.

Present, not preposterous.

Polygonous, not just dichotomous.

Rhinoceros, not hippopotamus.

Circumference, not just hypotenuse.

Apocalypse, not just hypothesis.

 

(15, 17 April 2019, Provo, Utah)

 

 

            EARLY PRAYERS

 

Heav’nly Father,

Thanks for Fam’lies.

Bless all Daddies,

Bless all Mothers,

Bless all Sisters,

Bless all Brothers.

 

Grandmas, Grandpas,

Aunts and Uncles,

Nieces, Nephews,

Cousins, Kinfolk,

Everybody

In the whole world.

 

(26 April 2019, Provo, Utah)

 

 

            OUR TRUE ETERNAL HERITAGE

 

Our true eternal heritage

As children of the Lord

Is – male and female – to become

Similitudes of God.

A man and woman are ordained

To marry in God’s plan.

Our families are central to

Creation’s mighty span.

 

Each spirit son or daughter has

A destiny divine.

Belov’d by Parents Heavenly,

Our natures are entwined. 

Before our birth, we learned of Earth

And Immortality – 

Engendered by their Perfect Love:

Our sure identity.

 

To have a body and progress

Through sacred ordinance,

We enter Temples of the Lord

And gain experience.

As heirs of life and covenant,

Our purpose is to seek

His light and truth and charity,

As children pure and meek.

 

(30 April 2019, Provo, Utah)

 

 

            PSALM OF DEGREES

 

When Jesus crossed the Brook,

And walked upon the Sea,

The Waters were the Veil he passed

To rescue you and me.

 

When Jesus knelt to pray,

When He poured out His soul,

The drops of Life from every pore

Were shed to make us whole.

 

When Jesus bore His trials,

Endured the smiter’s flail,

He overcome the infamy

In spite of Cross and Nail.

 

When Jesus breathed His last,

Forgiveness was His plea.

Compassion was His epitaph,

His healing elegy.

 

When Jesus conquered death,

He visited His friends.

He organized His Holy Church

For Love that never ends.

 

(19 May 2019, Springville, Utah)

 

 

            HOLLY

 

Your beauty is original –

You have an Only style –

Your loveliness is liminal –

Your virtue is a smile.

 

(15 June 2019, Springville, Utah)

 

 

            SEA SONG

 

The Eye of God was blue –

Or so it seemed to see.

The Hand of Him stretched forth –

Or so it seemed to be.

The Heart of God was full –

Or so it seemed to me.

The Mind of God was strong –

And so it seemed a tree.

The Soul of God was whole –

And thus it rescued thee.

 

(16 June 2019, Springville, Utah)

 

 

            POST-SOLSTICE LAMENT

 

The days are waning shorter –

The nights are waxing long.

Remaining hours relinquish

Diminuendoed song.

 

(22 June 2019, Springville, Utah)

 

                                                                                                                                                              

              SEEKER’S PLEA

 

Lord, open my eyes

And open my ears.

Please help me be wise

And comfort my fears.

 

Lord, quicken my mind

And soften my heart.

Please help me be kind

And set me apart.

 

Lord, lengthen my stride

And lighten my cares.

Please strengthen my faith

And answer my prayers.

 

Please help me stand firm

And help me speak up

And feast on Thy Word

And drink from Thy Cup.

 

(23 June 2019, Springville, Utah)                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

 

 

            CAPSTONE

 

Reading is the Needle,

And Writing is the Thread.

So as we read, we stitch and bind

Our Thought to what is said.

 

Writing is the Treadle,

And Reading is the Tread.

So as we write, we line the seams

Of Truth to what we’ve read.

 

(11, 19 July 2019, Springville, Utah)

 

 

            WIZARD

 

Trouble-shooting genius

Rescues once again –

Gratitude is specious

For such brilliant men.

 

(11 July 2019, Provo, Utah)

[For Taylor and the DH CSR team]

 

 

            CALLING

 

To name is invocation –

To call is to perform.

Apostrophe is drama –

To nominate confirms.

 

His name is our vocation –

Our calling is to stage

The Hero of the Action

In every scene and page.

 

(19 July 2019, Provo, Utah)

 

 

            CÁPUT CORPUS

 

The human body is a poem

With parallels of form and line –

With pairs of eyes, of ears, of feet,

Or arms, of legs – unique design.

 

The human temple has a pulse

Of systole, diastole –

Of weak and strong – of stress, unstress –

One heart’s iconic prosody.

 

Our mortal life is metrical

With long and short – with lax and tense –

Our daily life is musical

With loud and soft – release, suspense.

 

Eternal life is measurement 

With ruler, compass – plumb and square – 

The universe an instrument                                       

For justice, mercy – full and fair.

 

(26 July 2019, Springville, Utah)

 

 

            DECISION NOTES

 

Where would He have me go?

Or would He have me stay?

Translation to another place

Might mean a newer day?

 

(11 December 2019, Springville, Utah)

 

 

            REVELATION 10:7

 

Speech is the Sound of Light,

Pheme is the Phos of Song,

And Prophecy is Poetry,

An Angel’s gifted Tongue.

 

We see light with our eyes.

We hear light with our ears.

We touch light with our hands.

We speak light with our voice.

We seek the light in all our senses.

 

(19 December 2019, Springville, Utah)

2018, Selected Poems & Psalms

 

            ABLATIVE PSALM

 

Without Him – poetry is not –

But with Him – we see full –

And through His love – we can create –

Without Love – all is null.

 

A secret that was never told

Is hiding in the heart –

Our work is for another world –

Our song a different part.

 

(14 January 2018, Springville, Utah)

 

 

            TELOS PSALM

 

Each life has its destiny –

Its inhale, exhale, pause –

Each mind has a litany,

A Script, a key, a cause.

 

Audio and Visual –

Glee, glory, sound, and sight –

Physical and spiritual –

Perceiving lengths of light.

 

(14 January 2018, Springville, Utah)

 

 

            ELEGY FOR ANN-MARIE

 

Translation was her expertise.

She moved from word to world in grace –

Interpreting the gist of truth

With love that helped her hand replace

 

One sentence for an equal thought –

One meaning for another sense –

She captured idioms of time

In native lyric resonance.

 

She taught the brilliant and the meek –  

She crossed the channel for her friends –

Secured the children of her nest –

Bequeathed her heart – bestowed her best.

 

She guided me from Park to Hägg

At Stockholm's University –

Propounded works that Poets make –

Translating Light’s diversity.

 

And now she moves to other realms –

Traverses new dimensions there –

Reversing mortal pains to odes

That celebrate a brighter sphere.

 

I see her at the Blue Hall feast –

I see her walking on the stairs –

I see her greeting loved ones gone –

I see her free from this life’s cares.

 

Her Presence honors one and all –

She wears a sapphire velvet Gown

While dancing in the Golden Hall

Of laureates and Triple-Crowns.

 

(Cynthia L. Hallen, 1 February 2018, Provo, Utah)

[To Ann-Marie Vinde, translator of Emily Dickinson and Ford Madox Ford]

 

 

            COMPOSED PSALM

 

How does music find a meter?

How do thoughts match chords?

How does rhythm find a lyric?

How do notes find words?

 

How do poets find composers?

How do bards find harps?

How do minstrels meet their muses?

Who knows flats and sharps?

 

How do birds find intonations?

How do songs find themes?

How do phrases find expression?

How do tunes find rhemes?

 

How do fingers meet the numbers?

How do lines meet strings?

How do measures match the meanings?

Teacher, Lord who sings.

 

(22 February 2018, Provo, Utah)

 

 

            WALKING HYMN

 

I love Heav’nly Father –

I know that He loves Me –

I’ll stand as witness for His Word

Throughout Eternity.

 

I love our Redeemer –

I know He ransoms me –

I’ll follow His commandment path

And seek His Charity.

 

I know the Holy Ghost

Encircles us with love –

Revives us with the Breath of Life

And Comfort from above.

 

(5 March 2018, Provo, Utah)

 

 

            Q & A

 

Did Mary teach Him how to pray?

What words could He recite?

Did Joseph teach Him how to read?

How did He learn to write?

 

What did He see on Egypt's trail?

Was Nature His first school?

What did He learn in Nazareth?

The Law? The Golden Rule?

 

Who mentored Him in wood and stone?

Who showed Him temple scrolls?

Who took Him to the synagogue?

Who taught Him to save souls?

 

(23 May 2018, Provo, Utah)

 

 

            NOSTALGIA

 

I longed for one from long ago –

I sought a certain face –

I heard familiar cadences –

That echoed from that place.

 

I felt a hint of homesickness

Each time a tune would play –

I sensed a scene of homecoming

In words that came my way.

 

I sought a beauty lost from earth –

I found a trace of grace –

I gathered loveliness from life

That loss could not erase.

 

I tried to see beyond the veil –

Remember who we were –

I saw a glint of holiness

That nothing can defer.

 

(8 June 2018, Springville, Utah)

 

 

            RESPIRATION         

 

The words come out like breathing

When I set down my hand –

Not novels, plays, or essays –

I hope you’ll understand

 

The words seem made for walking

Or dancing on a trail –

I hope you find them worth it –

I wouldn’t want to fail

 

To draft a fine impression –

To sketch a memory –

To trace a revelation

That heaven shared with me.

 

I can’t believe how many

Have metered me through time

Although a premonition

Had trained my toes to rime.

 

The act of exhalation

Predominate as air

Is twined with inspiration –

Translation is a pair.

 

The writer and the reader –

The poet and the page –

Creation and creators

Make meaning on life’s stage.

 

I have a predilection

For binding signs and sense –

I like the sounds of essence –

The rites of resonance.

 

(13 June 2018, Provo, Utah)

 

 

            XYLOGRAPHY

 

We write because we are written –

Carve because we are code –

We christen because we are sealed –

Inscribe because He spoke.

 

We sketch because Someone etched us –

Tell because we are told –

We work because we are woven –

Read because we are scrolled.

 

We live because we are lettered –

Breathe because we are named –

We count because we numbered –

Frame because we are framed.

 

We draw because we are figured –

Sign because we exist –

Define because we are measured – 

Create because we’re blessed.

 

(21 August 2018, Provo, Utah)

[To Ashlen Lemon]

            ZEN PSALM

 

The measure of Creation is

A wisdom provident –

We each receive the vision that

The Lord deems relevant.

To each at least one gift is sent –

A few receive all keys –

An earnest quest for further light

Is granted as He please.

 

To some the talents come in scores

With honors evident –

While meeker seekers magnify

One mission’s full extent.

And none is better than the rest

In spite of quantity –

The measure of Salvation is

A test of quality.

 

No matter we seem great or small –

We need each other’s share –

The value of our offering

More priceless than we dare

Believe. To feel, to speak, to hear,

To wait, to act, to care,

To know, to work, to heal, be healed,

Is how we serve, not where.

 

The greatest gift – eternal life –

Is nearer than we think –

The meaning’s in the ordinance –

We’re washed – we eat, we drink.

The highest King made lowest bow

To lift us from despair –

We take His hand – He pulls us through

To realms beyond compare.

 

(24 August 2018, Springville, Utah)

[for Saint-Saëns, Symphony No. 3 in C minor]

 

 

 

            REMINDER PSALM

 

Why did they despise Him?

Because He cleaned, He healed?

For that, He drank the bitter cup,

He bore the pain, He kneeled.

 

(Autumn 2018)

 

 

            INVOLVEMENT VERSE

 

Evolution is a Waltz,

A dance of Willow limbs,

Valleys lined with Walks and Wells,

A Helix Vault for hymns,

Valves Revolving in and out,

A Maypole’s ribbon spells,

Windows winding into Whelks,

A spiral flight of shells.

 

(14 November 2018, Provo, Utah)

 

 

            BOUNTIFUL

 

Have you any that are ill?

Any halt, or blind, or lamed?

Bring them hither to be healed:

Leprous, withered, deaf, or maimed.

Christ’s compassion is revealed.

By His mercy you are sealed.

 

Do you have sufficient faith?

Do you know what He can do?

Worship at His perfect feet:

Take afflicted souls with you.

His atonement is complete.

Taste His words so pure and sweet.

 

Bring the tender children forth:

Set them here upon the ground.

Let the little babies crawl.

Watch the toddlers walk around.

He will stand amidst them all.

Gather siblings, big and small.

 

Do you see the sacred fire

Summoned by His holy hands?

Do you hear the angel choir

Circling on these promised lands?

Joy surrounds you at the sight.

Let your heart sing with delight.

 

(4 December 2018, Springville, Utah)