Here I Am

The sweetest sound I've ever heard
Was not the singing of a bird;
Not the wind's unbridled sigh
But a newborn baby's cry

The sweetest sight I'll ever see?
Little arms reaching out for me
To protect her in the night
When a dream had caused her fright

The sweetest joy I've ever known
Was to see my children grown
Teaching things to little ones
Selfsame lessons taught my own

The sound of laughter is so sweet
But still the patter of tiny feet
Upon the early morning floor
Can stir my heart to loving more

Glorious suns over ocean view
Can bring a smile from beauty too
Yet when compared I know I must
Choose a child's unwavering trust

No satisfaction can be won
Greater than a job well done
I have found no fairer grace
Than to seek my Master's face

In my children and their lives
All my efforts wherein I strive
Fall to nothing but a whim
Compared then to my love for Him

Gratitude and prayer would be
The sweetest sight I'll ever see
Sweetest sound I've ever heard
My child reciting from God's Word

He has answered a servant's sigh
With a newborn baby's cry
Then sacrificed that purest lamb
To say to us, "Child, here I Am."

Only The Wind

Only the wind grows dandelions
And sows the empty air
Careless gardener that he is
He plants them everywhere

Philosophers and poets
Fill an aching need
Bits of wildflower they would sow;
Fleeting feather seed

Only the moon moves oceans;
Brine upon the beach
Tides, a curious notion;
Love too deep to reach

Only the owl asks questions
After the fleeting light
If wisdom is confession
Dreams are born at night

Only a tiny floating seed
Awash on seas of sand
Searching answers; always in need;
The heart of curious man

Lost Children

There are only so many mountains;
So many rivers that run;
So many trees and so many seas
Under the sheltering sun

Life in all its diversity
From scales of slithering things
To skins and fins; feathers and furs,
With legs and shells and wings

We depend upon one another
We are married like man and wife
We were born of one natural mother
Our birth from the earth gave us life

We share one heavenly Father
Under the bright blue sky
He blessed with the admonition of,
“Be fruitful and multiply.”

Mankind has too quickly forgotten
We are part of a greater scheme
The greed of the ill begotten
Has fouled and polluted the dream

Such was the greed of Lucifer;
First, in the heavens above
Cast out from before his Creator
Cut off from His life-giving Love

So, from the Garden of Eden
He banished their sin with a sword
Still they demanded their freedom
Proudly denying His Word

Now, as they kill one another,
And poison the seas and the land
To rape their beautiful mother
Mankind fails to understand

There are only so many mountains;
Only so much Love can defend
Patience and kindness are fountains
That heal yet they do have an end

I hear her wailing and mourning
For her children lost in their greed
Who would not hear any warning
Or to mother or Father pay heed

Before Dawn

Sombrero cloud on morning moon
Shining in darkness before dawn
Ancient silence settled in still
Makes one feel empty and alone

Blinking jet, high over hills
Trailing wriggling, threadlike worms
Waiting thunder on heaven's edge
Rumbling engines or coming storms

Distant stars uncivilized
Burn native fires into the night
Smoky cloud of Andromeda
Like mountain mist in early light

A barking dog is questioning
Who goes there, foe or friend?
Only owls will answer him
Mocking tones from secret limbs

Semi on the interstate
Growls out where the highway winds
Sputtering sounds of Jake brake
Until the tires begin to whine

A soft, brave bird is twittering
Somewhere in the underbrush
But still the night is whispering
To all it's children, “Hush.”

Far Upon the Sea

I long to feel the vast heartbeat of salty tides;
To be pulled by golden moons upon the sand;
The rush and hush of white-capped waves
Around me
Whispering songs my soul will understand

Where weathered hulls and crusty prows before me
In barnacled beauty their precious planks adorned;
Where great sailfish and dolphins go exploring;
Where mermaid
Infants swim when they are born

I long to hear the lovely songs of seabirds;
The screech of gulls, the albatross and tern;
To see the billowed sails full white with yearning
To catch
The wind and all her secrets learn

I'd see the swaying palms of distant islands
With pristine beaches beyond the coral reef
All snow white, bathed in light
And glittering
Like precious diamond gems beyond belief

I'd hear the groaning lullaby of Humpbacks
Where Poseidon parts the frothy veils
Upon their massive tails I could go riding
Churning
Learning all the mysteries of whales

Around the frozen icebergs I would wander
To see the seals and all the penguins there
What would it be like, I have to ponder,
To kindly
Pet a friendly polar bear?

Upon my earthbound travels I go dreaming
Of all these things I know will never be
Yet fantasy fills me still with imagining
And longing
For wild adventures far upon the sea

Beauty

There is a beauty seen
Of flowers, sunsets and other things
Birds, butterflies, cloudless skies
And rain

But all these pale, indeed, they fail
Before love in comparison
The soul of wisdom, the art of living
Beyond what painter or poet can tell

The soul is colored with feeling
Bluer than any ocean
In the eyes of a child, dreams of the wild
Reckless abandon of emotion

Laughter, freedom, the joy of play
The dance, the music while we sway
The appreciation of giving thanks
Feeling blessed by luck or chance

Faith there is a God above
And we are children of His love
Hope of the eternal, sighing
Heaven is not just for the dying

Every soul has known some part
Of beauty in wisdom, love and art
The feeling of light at the dawn of day
Beyond what mortal words can say

In this soul all swept with blue
Are images I have of you
Memories of every smile
From every tender loving child

Until death...yes, until then
We should be as those children
Whose beauty fills them from within
Spilling into the lives of men

Be that beauty, in us found
Like the music beyond the sound
Such grace the dance will find it odd
To reach and touch the face of God

Sunday in September

On a quiet Sunday morning
Cattle standing lowing
In the fields; behind the fencing
Bright cool light of dawn commencing

Across the hills;across the sky
Strands of pink cotton candy fly
Like ballooning spiders casting web
Tentacles from the sun are spread

A gentle wind, rustling leaves
Dances through the tops of trees
Sparking dew lit diamonds there;
Casting emeralds through the air

Maples, fluttered by the breeze
Send forth their helicopter seeds;
Gypsy fruit that congregate
Swiftly, as if they were running late

Upon the dawn and through the air
The slightest hint of autumn there
Soon the maples will turn to embers
Burning the edges of September

What joy and peace the morning brings
Like angel harps with sunlit strings
Until the whole of nature sings
While in the distance church-bells ring