Tag: poem

Windowsill Posies (a poem)

My wife and I were walking recently down a stretch of path that isn’t particularly beautiful, on the back side of an industrial estate. Suddenly she paused—

“I just want a few of those purple flowers over there.”

“I don’t see any purple flowers?”

“That’s because you’re not looking.”

Which was true. I wasn’t. I had not paid any attention to the unkept grass beside us. She took the flowers home and made a little posy for the windowsill, as she often does. And that’s what this poem is about.

Windowsill Posies

As we walk on the way
you see a bouquet
where I only noticed some weeds

as you gather them in
I’m looking again
and the beauty is there, I agree

the world that you show me
in windowsill posies
is teaching my eyes how to see

Quite Slowly (a poem)

One thing I’ve learned
quite slowly in life
is how good things grow
quite slowly
and big things begin
quite lowly
and excellence starts
with doing it poorly

One thing I’ve found
in living my life
is that each little choice
is profound
that habits expand
and compound
and slower construction
is often more sound

I’ve seen how character
grown over seasons
is proved when the
pressure is on

I’ve seen how hasty
impressive collections
collapse in a heap
on the ground

I’ve found
in the rubble
a sapling still standing
still budding
and growing

quite slowly

The Illustration (a poem)

I’ve been taught by a lot of people over the years. In school and university, in trainings, Bible studies, and more sermons than I can count. I know it all shaped me, slowly, bit by bit, and I do remember a few things, here and there—the real stand-out, mic-drop moments—but most of the specifics of what they said are gone now. What I remember most is not the teaching itself, but the people who taught me. I remember their faces, their lives, and the way they interacted with me and others. I remember if they cared about what they said, and if they cared about me. I remember their sincerity—or hypocrisy.

Continue reading The Illustration (a poem)

Words Like Rain (a poem)

Your words came
like rain
and the parched ground
they found
was my heart

Your words fell
like seeds
in the cracked soil
of me
and they sprouted

Your words grew
like saplings
unfurled
like flowers
and tasted like
heaven’s own
garden-fresh
produce
and nothing at all
is the same
since

Your words came

“You have the words of eternal life” – John 6:68

A Given (a poem)

I laid my head down
and took it for granted
that it was a given
that I would keep living
that morning would come
and my heart would keep beating
in counterpoint time to
the rhythm of breathing
and so it was granted—
my consciousness lost,
my body continued
to honour my trust
I rested on forces
I could not control
and now with the light
in my eyes,
I know
that waking up here
on this marvellous planet
is something I cannot
keep taking for granted
it’s granted, but my life
is never a given
and yet—here I am!
because
it is given

Lifetime Lease (a poem)

zero money down on the lease of a lifetime no payments due
you can keep it and use it damage abuse it and love it so
tenderly until the terms of renewal are ended then turn
in the lifetime you’ve broken and mended and all of
the years that you’ve always pretended were
yours and yours only by rights and by
reason but this was a loan—it was
only a season and one day the
lease on the lifetime of you will
come due and you’ll find out
it’s always been true that
you can’t stop the
hourglass sands
as they sift
you can only
accept

the

gift

You’re a Popsicle (a poem)

This one goes out to my wife, Jessica

You’re a popsicle in the summer
you’re a water bottle for a runner
you’re the golden hour and the
April shower that grows the flowers in May

You’re the leafy tree that I run to for shelter
and I’m laughing too much—
you’re the words I can’t say

The invisible prism that
doubles the rainbow is you
the key to my door you’re my fire, my home
and my favourite place in this marvellous world

is just you

Glorious Defeat (a poem)

In our midweek Bible studies with our church we’ve been discussing the book of Hosea, and this poem is based on one of the themes we found there—a theme I’ve experienced in my own life as well.

Glorious Defeat

I raise my eyes
to my opponent
standing in the way
towering above my head
and shining like the day
I size him up
I shake my fist
I’m impotent
yet I resist
“Why?”
I shout out my complaint
though my own voice
sounds small and quaint
“Why are you here blocking me?
Move aside, now! Let me be!”
He doesn’t budge
his sword is drawn
he’s ready now for action
his eyes are burning hot
with an unsettling compassion
and with a voice
like rushing water
larger than the world
he answers with a knowing smile
“Child” he says
“My child”—is that really who I am?
“I only stand to save you from the peril
that you’re in. This path leads to destruction—
if you turn, you’ll live again. So I’ll block you
and I’ll fight you and I’ll stop you till you see
that the path to perfect freedom
is the path that leads to me.”
And so I am undone
in my glorious defeat
I run into his arms
and I find the victory

A Thousand Lives (a poem)

Here’s a poem to compliment my previous post, A Treasure Chest for Thoughts

I have often wandered in
The Hundred Acre Wood
If you’ve never been to Neverland
I’ll tell you that you could
But mind yourself—
There’s pirates there
And don’t trust Long John Silver
You need a bear like ol’ Baloo,
The jungle-wisdom giver
I’ve been in boats with Rat and Mole
And Huckleberry Finn
And for a time the Pevensies
Were pretty much my kin
I cried when Old Dan died and I
Rejoiced when Gandalf was revived
And I have lived a thousand lives
While sitting by the bookshelf