Photo by Musa Ortaç
Shadow Boxer
glitters like gold!
Shapeshifter lies
have all been told!
His candy is poison
but sure taste sweet!
He shadow boxes
down on Deception Street!
Shadow Boxer betrays
with silver, he stole!
His beauty hides his
evil lust for control!
oh your fall from the heavens
like a burning star
shook the deep of this earth
what a falling was there!
Photo by Ricardo Esquivel
Have you ever had the strange sensation of having traveled off the map of your own existence?
It is like moving in a mysterious land where you only know a smattering of words in that language and feel so far removed from your core being.
Some scholars call this some kind disorder of adjustment but I disagree.
I find this to be a time of challenge and exuberance in this journey.
A bigger lens through which to view the magnificence of this great pilgrimage, from the cradle to the grave and beyond…
then just as quietly or quickly some sound or smell or jolt of love for someone brings me back home.
I am now standing in my familiar dimension and even though I do not feel totally whole in this earth shell…
I know that I belong here for now until I know that I don’t anymore.
…And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.” John 8:32
Photo by Matheus Bertelli
Her tiny toddler body lays wrapped against mine.
Her breathing is God singing, His Love her sigh.
No guile no malice no doubt or fear.
Her precious hands show me God is near.
She whispers my name as she falls asleep.
Never a sweeter word has been spoken to me.
My heart could burst open when I smell her sweet head.
If there is a treasure on earth more than this I choose this song instead.
Photo by MESSALA CIULLA
I remember the good and leave the worst
I fill all my pages with rhyme and verse
Not much of it will matter to most
But some will understand the cost
I see a good day and leave the night
I paint a picture of the Hope in God’s light
May it never be said that I didn’t try
to speak the truth and expose the lie
This is the message we have heard from Christ and declare to you:God is light, pure light, and in Him there is no darkness AT ALL! 1 John 1:5
Photo by Tainá Bernard
You thought I never noticed you
in those hallowed halls of high school angst.
Like Breakfast Club we each played a part
and everyone said I would break your heart.
You thought I was a Golden lady with no scars.
You said my blue-gray eyes shined like silver stars.
Truthfully I thought no one really cared.
Only you could see that I was a little scared.
You were my best friend and always true.
I went to the parties and always looked for you.
You were too afraid to come my way
and then you faded black one day.
Years came and went till we met again.
We talked and laughed until the sun shined in.
We professed our love and gratitude out loud.
Friends to the end we made that vow.
Now I am old and you have crossed the pale.
I can see the halls of heaven prevail.
Nobody ever was or had a friend more true.
How wrong you were to think I never noticed you.
(this is dedicated to Tim C.)
Photo by Noelle Otto
I don’t know where you went when you left me.
I have to believe you were sure you had to leave.
People always seem to have to be, have to go, have to hear what someone else has said.
The Truth running away like a spool of thread.
Still, I remember it felt like drowning in a rip tide.
There is a sadness in the end, in the eyes of it all.
I am much the stronger for it but I don’t wait for your call.
Photo by Pixabay
The Cheshire Cat’s moonshine smiles white.
The Hobbit’s Shire sends a woodsmoked sunrise.
The Midnight Cowgirl still rides wild and high.
Treasure Island’s grand Osprey weaves and glides.
The great Lion Aslan’s shadow still comforts me.
The Little Women sisters all still speak to me.
All these childhood stories are pages in my mind.
A little girl who loves books still lives inside.
Photo by Miri
Standing on the highest sand dune people moved back and forth on the ground below. She no longer has their youthfulness of an unlined face but she knew she finally possessed the joy of ageless Grace. The pilgrimage called her to this beautiful place. The wind and the sun an old friend on her face.
Now she is the shell seeker in the wide brimmed hat, as a child playing in the sun she’d laughed at people like that. She remembers younger days when she grew weary but now the days of peace are what linger here. Emotions don’t obey the rules they are the heartbeat in being human. Like waves reaching the shore emotions can be kept for a moment but are better when given away.
The shell seeker’ s eye remains clear and adept while watching the children play. She knows that life is not going back but more of giving it away. The Truth is, life consists in learning and loving well with Grace underneath God’s sun. To remain whole in the midst of life’s ups and downs, to surrender all secrets and lies is anointing oil to the soul. To shed insincerity and live in the present, the waves echo behind her now compelling her to go on.
Photo by Nadi Lindsay
Wisteria vines will grow on walls, over other plants and along the weathered splintered gray fence that is long forgotten. The vine of Wisteria is thick and knarled and strong…
The fragrance of the low hanging purple clumps of flowers permeated the bright spring day and it made her feel lightness in her heart that she had not experienced in a long while. She thought about how precious her memories of first love are. There in lies the treasure. It is in the pleasure and the pain…if you allow it, first love leads to the Truth that we know nothing much of love.
She is older now and reflects back often on what she thought love was as a young woman or rather perhaps she was simply in love with what she thought love was. She loved but then she lived. In that living she learned that love is tough as nails. Love is knarled like the Wisteria vine. Love will grow over barriers and around obstacles still blooming and still fragrant. Love is having the strength to stay. Love is a wild and furious risk, a pouring out of all that one can from that cup and drink it. Love is rich and poor. Love is sickness and health. Love is a verb, an action word. Nothing about love is passive. Love cannot be manipulated. Love. Risks. Everything. The Holy God is Love’s name…ponder this, ponder Him…you will find Him because Love never quits and perfect Love cast out all fear and Love never ever fails.
Photo by Joel Friend
When this young prodigal daughter wandered
It was not because You, O God changed in time.
You O blessed Savior still sought the one and left the ninety-nine.
I could not outrun your Grace even in the valley of the shadow,
I kept seeing your face in my disgrace and sorrow.
You said, “I have already won the battle”
As I lay deserted there I heard you call me Friend. .
Dying within an inch of my life I thought you must be a dream
But you Lord whispered “everyone needs to learn, from a desert comes a stream.”
Jill Autrey Dorman 