We Run

We run.
Heavy a foot, with inner battle
The end nowhere near.
We run.
The call of the race drives us on.
A cheer from the side, a comrade's word.
A moment to moment decision made
We run.
When from the course, a brightness shown
The beauty of light and hue and shade,
Mercy seen, though unforeseen.
We run.
Lighter the feet, joy of breath
Flush with flow of rapid heart
Reminded so the reward of journey
Of struggle deep and grit of will
We run.
Corner turned, the end in view.
Quickening pace, with all resolve.
We speed to finish step in step
We run.
Mystery lies beyond the line
Yet forward we drive with weary delight
As soul compels and conviction sustains.
We run.

Passion

Knowledge yields but little
        That heart and soul be filled.
From objects stark and lifeless
        No noble acts are willed.
But passion is the ether
        By which the cosmos fly;
And courage soars, and armies cheer,
        And mighty anthems rise;
And love professed, and poems penned,
        And songs of beauty sung.
But passion too, that poisoned sword,
        By which great harm is wrung;
Life is lost, and cities felled,
        And horrid acts unspoken;
Hearts are pierced, wounds made deep,
        And bonds of love are broken.
Great peril is in passion,
        Unbridled by fair heart;
But empty, dark and soulless is
        The world without its mark.
We choose the way of passion,
        Amid its strife and storm;
But through the clouds and torrent,
        Resplendent days are born.

Truth

Gaze but long enough,
        Entangled thought doth see:
Lakes of sand, Potemkin wealth,
        A marionette beauty.
With deeper gaze the truth we craft
        Confirms our vested stand;
Aside all else that might conflict,
        As conscience sore demands.
O what might to breach the wall
        Of practiced self-deceit;
By time and age it crumbles;
        Regret-filled floods run deep.
Protect me from refracted truth
        Through lense of selfish ways;
And let me see the truth that is:
        Your warmth, your touch, your gaze.
         

A Light We Sought

We are small, the world is dark;
We struggled so to make our mark.

But our works burned; we fled through flames;
Fruitless were our goals and aims.

In our despair, a light we'd seek
From our foundation worn and weak.

Inward we looked, to no avail;
There was no light within our pale.

To kings we looked, to prince and squire,
But their light died within the fire.

Our chariots and castles we prayed would illume,
But were just transport and brick for the tomb.

As we sat in defeat, crushed spirits bemoaned,
A light from within, but not of our own,

Took flight in our hearts, our souls and our minds.
The True Light had come to redeem his own kind.

We clearly saw what the Light had dear bought,
And that which is and that which is not.

Beheld we each other in the Light's radiant glow,
And thus, through his eyes, pure love we now know.

Language Deep

A touch
     A look
          A kiss
               A smile,
Language deep. Its meaning, while

Known to the heart, escapes the tongue,
The prose of senses, crisp and young.

Yet ageless is such soul's voice,
Renewed again by conscious choice.

Your touch
       Your look
              Your smile
                     Your kiss,
The poems of passion refrained, wordless.

But thus we speak without a sound,
And sing the silent song unbound.

A Shepherd's Prayer

All that we know doesn’t fill the caverns of questions our hearts ache to know.
Why does such evil prevail?
Are you there is the suffering of millions?

Peace is a lost hope it seems,
Civility melts into factions of greed.
We lift up our hands to you,
Empty of answers

The camp is surrounded it seems,
We look to the hills and we see no relief.
A war of attrition we see,
The weak are devoured and the strong are pulled down.

We wade through the wounded and sense,
No matter how much that we do it’s a loss.
What is our calling in this?
Is your strength to be shown in our weakness?

But when we see you there,
All our questions will fade by the light of your face.
As your brightness fills,
All the valleys that once held our darkness and fear.

All that we know doesn't fill the caverns of questions our hearts ache to know.
What is our calling in this?
Is your strength to be shown in our weakness?

Entwined

An old tree formed from two
          merged together by wind and storm
How so this, from growth once new,
          to be so scarred and mangled formed?

Saplings once the two from seed
          with bright beginnings and so much time,
Close they were, so close indeed,
          that leaf and branch and trunk entwined.

Twists and turns to conflict led,
          as force of will between did spark.
But in the strife, the twining sped,
          and strengthened hard both bond and bark.

Against the wind the two did stand,
          rising high above the felled.
Seeds falling upon the land,
          'neath their expanse in nurture held.

Beyond them soon the seedlings grew
          beyond their covering shelter's need,
Until they were but one anew,
          o're shadowed full by younger breed.

Summer's heat, the cool of fall,
          ushers in the end unspoken.
Leaves of color adorning all,
          falling with old dreams awoken.

Left 'tis beauty of the pain,
          of wars waged and strengthened ties,
Of wounds healed and gnarls lain,
          the burl grain, a master's prize.

Testament to the beauty of two,
          through wars waged and wounds healed.
In legacy lies hope anew,
          a timeless work their core will yield.