Tag: Poem

Dear Shepherds

What was it like in Bethlehem,
after the sky ceased to shine,
there was nobody left to tell,
and the flocks needed a new pasture?
What was it like to hold such news
in your hearts, in your community;
to receive a tiny, infant Messiah?

What did you do the week after?
You went back to work, I assume,
days slowly resuming their routine.
You were changed, yet still excluded,
the messengers of God’s messengers
sliding back into obscurity.

Two years later, He was gone
to escape the coming sword;
no angels came to bring you further news.
Did faith flourish or flounder in the fields of Bethlehem,
how did you hold on to hope?

Thirty years on, do we find you at the Jordan,
washing clean in preparation?
Did you yearn through all those years,
taking up the mantle of Anna and Simeon?

You witnessed to God’s faithful fulfillment,
then found yourselves back in the fields
waiting for Messiah to grow up.

Reading between the lines, I wait with you,
holding hope in the tender arms of patience:

He came, He died, He rose; He will come again. Continue reading “Dear Shepherds”

Eyes on the Manger

I.
in case you’re wondering why everyone is lonely

I used to wonder at the way
a crowd
could feel lonely
feeling reality
without explanation

some say it’s a matter of
technology, this recent
digital life, before that
the industrial revolution, maybe
Rome’s roads drove us apart

some say it’s a matter of
words, possibility against
a lack of truth, define
for yourself what means anything
or nothing to anyone

some say it’s a matter of
perspective, who really knows
the life you’ve lived inside
looking in through the window
of their own experience

some say it’s a matter of
physics, that matter
never touches, have you ever
really touched another object
much less a person

some say it’s a matter of
sin, of protective clothing
hiding the truth, shameful
parts too much to bear
before God and man

now I wonder how this crowd
of disciplines can explain the reality
of aloneness so impartially
while the poets just bleed
words that never mean the same thing twice


II.
in case you’re wondering what more there is to say Continue reading “Eyes on the Manger”

The End of Fire Season

Autumn is my favorite season, but here in Northern California I have learned to thrive in winter, when rain dampens the threat of wildfires.

In the midst of drought, an ever-lengthening fire season, and the annual stress of smoke and nixle alerts, I am grateful for the early storms that allowed us to enjoy fall in safety this year.

This early end to fire season confused all the plants, so we basically had fall and spring at the same time. Flowers bloomed as the leaves turned beautiful colors. I’ve never seen anything quite like it!

This autumn was a breath of relief, a good gift to our communities, and this poem is my celebration of that gift.

May you and your loved ones also enjoy peace and security this holiday season!

Continue reading “The End of Fire Season”

Tunnel Vision (August 2020)

God has a way of working in the space
Between the end of normal but before
The light at the end
That dark, misty space
Where we grope
And groan
And curse the dank walls
Where the sound of our own footfall
Startles!
And so
We stand still awhile
Before lurching ahead
No longer sure whether we’re headed for the old
Or the new

Continue reading “Tunnel Vision (August 2020)”