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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

AUGUST PSALM

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

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)