Love is There
(at any age, on any page)
Where?
Up?
If I look up,
will I see it?
Out? If I go
outside, will I
be it?
Around the
world, where no
bound can
keep it?
Or deep inside,
where when I
hurt I hide it?
Love is there.
It’s everywhere.
Reach out;
we’ve earned
it. Teach it, and
we’ll learn it.
Everyone of
Earth and
on
deserves
love from
birth to
build upon.
Loss
(for my friend Sanford)
Love pitches
And slides down
No purchase for a hold
All last moments gone
You
Are friend sitting beside
Me, sometimes
Walking with me here
And there
You moved so slowly
Through the world
So that love might
Permeate, a message
In itself
Go slowly, the Buddhists
Say—you taught me
That
A righteous challenge
For those who move
Too fast, a badge
A sign that virtue
Is in rapidity alone
Rather what we do
While on the way
Is what makes the
Difference
And the love we leave
While on our way
Where you are
Is good, is right
Is healing, and is
Love—
You loved us here
Thank you for that
I cannot say good-bye
Weathering
Storms, fire
Firestorms
That’s in California
Floods, tornadoes
Water-sheets
And other means
Of rain to strike
At us
Texas and in Florida
Where sand is
Bagged by convict
Volunteers—on
North through
Eastern USA
River-rise in Paris
Art treasures
Moved toward
More-protected
Ground
Certain seasons
Start all over (as
In again and
Everywhere)
In nature’s timing
And all storms’
Discretion
Selfishly, I am
Well above brick
Walkways and
Macadam streets
I have electric
In safe measure—
Mostly, though
Not always:
A tree smashed
Into the house
Not so long ago
A favorite book,
The Mighty Acts
Of God, a
Faithful book
Nature is God’s,
And the Christian
Claim is God is
Love
So what is the
Love here? It
Id that God loves
Us and leaves
Us the means—even
In, and as, a fallen
World
Our part to start
Redress is to resolve
To do so
That’s it: resolve
(The rest follows)
Psalm 44
a sleep-song
I nap and still am tired
Good, maybe I’ll sleep
Through the night
Napping was necessary
I was too sore and too
Worn-through
I could have stayed awake,
I guess,
Except I couldn’t
Will you still love me when
I’m gone away?
I mean, eventually I’ll
Be closer to you than
I was ever before,
Than I am now:
I like you and respect you
I seek to be near you
Is this ever enough to
Bring a dream of you
Or, dreamless, a
Long time of sleep
Because I’m loved
Throughout this night
That you have made?
I can hope so
Not because I’m smart
But because I’m yours
Psalm 40
song about the mind of God
Lord, we think we know
You—and we don’t
Otherwise, everything we
Do would be waged in
Love
This Is What I Care About
This is what I care about
Family—three brothers, sister,
Brother-in-law, sisters-in-law,
Too
Niece and nephews, two
Children in the next generation
Four dogs for now, no cats
I know of (since mine died)
Friends—those who have
Work and those who need it,
Who are healthy and who
Struggle to get through the
Day without so much pain
Neighbors—those who make
Up my community and those
Who try to disfigure it
Peace that hardly yet prevails
Love and grace that it might
Abound
God who doesn’t need me
But regards me as one part
Of creation, anyway
And you
For so many reasons
For I know that you care, too
Walpurgisnacht
(30 April)
Eve of a saint’s day and
Something to do with
Witches and with German
Witches, I imagine—the
Good kind of witch, I’m
Sure
Not Charmed witches,
‘Cause they were silly
(After three seasons,
Anyway) nor the crones
With noses whose hooks
Could hold pots, so badly
Were they drawn
Maybe that’s why,
Starting at dawn, the
Television plays episodes
Of (so-called) real
Mysteries
Because tonight good
Witches are dancing in
Dark bulls’-eyed circled
Places with what light
They might extract from
The sentinel moon
Under which their sinews
Slide in pace to music
Unheard
Beseeching sky and earth
And fire with water held
In fashioned vessels
To love the world and
Give their healing magic
Potency to break feverish
Ills that make corrupting
Sickness of what men
Catch and spread when
Dealing in the day
(see?)
One Dog, Two Cats, Two Dogs
I’m with the dogs again;
I should set out a shingle
Neighbor’s dog (the only
Dog from whom I’ve
Received real hugs)
Friends’ cats, exercises
In indifference, until I’m
The only one to feed
Them
These two dogs in the
Family are older, whiny,
And demanding
I love them both
What kind of irony that
Saint Francis helps me
With my pets but has not
Yet arranged for the
Curing of my allergies
P is for Petrarchan Sonnet
(Petrarch’s writing signaled the Renaissance)
So when I love with all I am alive
Then we are introduced as I and you
Therewith you ask me ever to be true
We press out feeling into a heart-hive
And thus you try to make it all survive
A mystery of evidence, a clue
To why you need me to pledge us anew
And wonder why we can’t in peace now thrive
It’s fear, I guess, and I can understand
When all is eye that cannot see around
That life before is ever in command
Until fear leaves in grace might love abound
So, love, let love become a golden band
A flex of give and strength to fright astound
[A] sonnet form popularized by Petrarch, consisting of an octave with the rhyme scheme abbaabba and of a sestet with one of several rhyme schemes, as cdecde or cdcdcd.
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/petrarchan-sonnet
http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/
Blogging from A to Z Challenge
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