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)