Fan PAD 27

 

Tajikistan

 

I’d like to go to Tajikistan.

And hike the mountains there called Fann.

The landscape looks like another planet,

with varied geology, mostly granite.

I wonder if, someday, I can

take a trek in Tajikistan.

Last Blank PAD 26, Window PB

 Last Time I Netflix Binge on Saturday Night

 

In Troas (Turkey)

the apostle Paul

preached after midnight

and a boy Eutychus

fell asleep and tumbled

out of the window

and died. But Paul,

raised him

from the dead.

 

This morning, I feel

like Eutychus

and I may not fall

out of a window,

but off my pew.

I may just die

of embarrassment.

How do you rise

from that?

Remix PAD 25

 

The Forest

 

Never underestimate the power

Walking in the woods on a sunny day

Communing hand in hand by the hour

Never underestimate the power

As wind bears fragrance of pine and flower

And birds chatter and tall pines sing and sway

Never underestimate the power

Walking in the woods on a sunny day

 

unidentified PAD 24

 

Guessing Game

 

My friend and I

used to laugh

about the time

she and her family moved

and her husband labeled

 a large group of boxes

miscellaneous 1,

miscellaneous 2,

miscellaneous 3…

leaving all the contents

virtually unidentified.

Labels,

when not well-defined,

tell you nothing,

individually speaking.

Juxtaposition PAD 23

 

Juxtaposition of Grace

 

The glory of God, the weakness of man

God’s weighty, radiant, holy glory

Try to imagine the two if you can.

The glory of God, the weakness of man  

Finite, simple, sinful, but for the plan

The two united in Redemption’s Story

The glory of God, the weakness of man

God’s weighty, radiant, holy glory

Natural PAD 22

 

Energizing

 

Never underestimate the power

of walking hand in hand

with someone you love

through swaying, singing pines,

twittering birds

and fragrant breezes.

High/Low, PAD 21

 

I Do, I Did, and I Am

 

My voice has always been soft and low.

As a child, adults would often tell me,

“If you don’t speak up at your wedding

the preacher won’t be able to hear you

when you say I do and you’ll stay single.”

I don’t know why they thought of that.

But there have been many times

in forty-six years of marriage

that I wished that on that October day

I would have kept my voice low.