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Psalm 23, a song of ancient assurance

Psalm 23
a song of ancient assurance

The shepherd psalm
If you’ve read in Old Testament
Then you, I think, know this

If your holy scripture is not
Divided so or does not
Contain this at all, I will tell
You this numbered psalm
Is well-known in metaphor
Of shepherding

(Genders of the shepherds?
They have been both when
Keeping sheep and will
Go on this way)

There is a rod and staff
Tools of the shepherd’s will
They don’t sound so good
To modern me, but I

Understand these somehow
Mean comfort and provide
There are still waters, too
These are clean, and we are
Led beside maybe because
We are so tired by then
That breezes off the water
Soothe us all

We are anointed—rite
Religiously special
And there is a feast

Our enemies are at table
But not served—Awkward?
Maybe, though I think it’s
An unworldly sign of triumph

Earned somehow, not
Simply out of injustice
We might have endured
But because, at last, victims
Are honor-placed

There are more promises
Finally, a place in heaven,
There to dwell with God

This song sings an invitation
Anyone might answer, go
Have coolness in the water,

Oil and banquet celebration,
Finally our home within
Forever

All in accepting
Shepherd’s care

Heaven once the peril’s
Done when, as tired
And need-starved beats,
We are carried home

5

Psalm 22, a song about God calling

Psalm 22
a song about God calling

Did you ask me something,
Lord—and did I not hear?
How do I know it’s you
Speaking (when no one
Else is in the room) and
Not the voice of another

Or simply my invention?—I
Hope I apprehend when
You might speak, especially
When you have something
To tell me to do

You would not ask of me
Destructive or demented
Activity. Then, Lord, and
Anytime, let me do
What you request, even
When I might (guaranteed)
Hear imperfectly from you.

7

Psalm 21, song for a gift

Psalm 21
song for a gift

Lord, thank you for this
time in which I may
wander without engagement
calendar in hand

I am engaged
without assistance
learning in a deeper and
kairotic way

about these things
whose making we call
Earthly life and time

9

Psalm 20, a song when celebration

Psalm 20
a song when celebration

When the world is celebrating
We remember those
Who cannot be

Not to diminish our joy
But to make it fuller
To have a thought for the care

Of, well, you know, everything
And everyone
Blanket all of us in safety, Lord

0

Psalm 19, a song for when I’m terrified

Psalm 19
a song for when I’m terrified

In the middle of the night I
Had a heart attack and
I survived which are two

Things infrequent that is
To have the attack at night
And to wake up

I wasn’t scared then just
In great pain a pain I
Could not identify since

My heart had never been
A doctor’s concern so

I waited for it all to go
Away the pain the stone I
Felt upon my chest I even
Tried to go back to

Sleep and nothing went
Away things got only worse

I tried to count off what this
Might be bronchitis pneumonia
Or simply being too tired from
The semester’s work

The famous ache you see was
In my right arm not the left
So I knew it could not
Be that even though it

Was and as the sun was rising
I heard noises in the hall
Crawled to the door and opened
It and croaked a request to
Whomever in the hall

That could they there were two
Dial 9-1-1 for me and even had the
Presence to suggest this might
Be a heart attack after all

Here’s what I felt though
Through the whole of me in addition
To the pain a sense that I was
Dying and if so that I should
Let it go my tightening scrapping
Stabbing hold onto life

One word came to mind as if
I were hearing from outside
Though I was the only one
There and that word was
Relent

I don’t feel that now and take
No present comfort from that word

I think it was evoked to
Make me ready to make me
Less afraid as I felt more
The imminent loosening of this
Life in fact a relenting

It felt sad and serene at the
Same time

I like it here and do not want
To leave but I do think that
That word will come back

Relent

5

Psalm 18, about the divine participle

Psalm 18
about the divine participle

(Note Advent and Lent have
Participle meanings)

Lord, you are action, you
Are acting

The active spirit in the
Cosmos and inside ourselves

As a participle or a gerund
(Noun disguised as verb), you
Are meaning in all moving
Within beauty, space, and time

All is sounding, finding
Depth; all

Is soaring, reaching
Height, as you are passing
Over earth and sky and star

And under earth and in
The core

Our mortal lives
In waiting

You are saving
Saving grace
Within our lives

Helping us
In our divining
Lord

2

Psalm 17, a difficult song about mourning

Psalm 17
a difficult song about mourning

Lord, how do we mourn
in a free land? How do
we allow atrocity and

still have the freedom
to choose? We do not
cry in empty space: but

our crying would be worse
in a revenge-wrought iron
land, where security

would be the only aim
and no one would have
open air to breathe

or drop tears for the
dead and for the living.
We must choose to

choose. Not to allow
evil or to destroy
democracy. Mourning

and breathing while we
arm, yes, and await
evil’s annihilate implosion.

For now we choose, in
a free place, to bear
the weight of death—in

nations wounded and in
the raw-split parts
of the human heart.

2

Psalm 16, a song of (USA) Thanksgiving (Day)

Psalm 16
a song of (USA) Thanksgiving (Day)

The Canadians had their day already.
I wonder if that’s because they’re
more easily, readily thankful.

In the USA, there’s so much to
be thankful for. I grew up in
Pittsburgh, and I like returning
there. Pittsburghers tend to
speak their minds, and their
minds are good. (Their driving’s
better, too.)

I have family. The five of us with
spouses, children of the new
generation, and pets (old, new). We
are scattered, which is sad, though
in our ways we keep in touch.

Friends I have, a small circle. And
I have made it smaller. Not the
happier of moves. But the friends
I have I cherish. They are good
for me, so good. They circle out
in nearness, which is the sense of
those we know and how and when.

I live alone and often feel the
peace of that. (I first typed pace
for peace, and I enjoy that too.)
I sleep badly, which means I have
hours of the day to be awake
and doing such as this. Would
someone else put up with that?

Hannah, my cat of nineteen
years. She is gone now, and
eighteen years were pretty good.
Then she faded fast. Not bad,
all in all. She was the queen and
I her knave. She ruled in blessed
benevolence, scolding me for what
is apt within the catly-noble
mind (which means daily
reprimand for not mind-reading
every whim). Still good, good-humored
company. Now a loss, though better
she go first. She awaits me on the other
side, ready to scold me what else I
missed in mortal time.

Mostly. I have you. Lord, I
know you love me anyway and
always. You love me in darkness
and in light. I am perpetually
astounded. And, yes,

thankful for this, all this, the
plenty that you give.

Thank you, Lord—Love, me

0

Psalm 15, a song of youth

Psalm 15
a song of youth

I am young
I have strength
But not enough ideas

I am not stupid
I am normal, speaking to
A median

I learn, I grow
There is much I
Need to figure out

I often don’t know how to
Ask for help, though it’s
Natural that I need it

If I ask, will
You hear me?

Can you see me
Look through my
Fears I sometimes
Mask with

Something hard or difficult?

Listen to me, please
Try

Hear us
Even when we don’t know
How to ask

We are young, after all
We usually like the edge of it
Though sometimes we fall

3

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