Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Lovetruth

Like most of my love poems this is theoretical at the moment.  But here's to hoping.

Is my love true?
They're not the same, you know.
Love stands on truth's shoulders
And truth without love is dead.

So do I have something to say?
Something I want to say to you?
Because without truth my love doesn't reach.
And right now it's killing you.

Is your truth love?
One's not the other,  you know.
Without love truth is buried and dead.
And without truth love's a song in your head

So do you have something to say?
Something you want to say to me?
Because without love your truth is dead.
And right now this is killing me.

So if there's anything left of us.
Some small measure of truth,
a tiny trace of love.
Could we try again?

Sunday, January 29, 2017

Dying

This is two poems in one.  An inner poem which is addressed to a mortal lover.  When the first and last stanzas are added it becomes a poem addressed to my immortal Lover. I am quite proud of its classic biblical structure which I attribute to Robbie Griggs teaching on Dan Dorian's book on hermeneutics. Guys this is all your fault.


Lord, I've known dying and I've been alone.
And I'd rather die for You than live for me.

My heart can stop but once, my soul to fly away.
But being without you is dying every day.

I've clung to cliffs in hailing wind and choked till I turned blue.
But I've never hurt so much as when without You.

I've slammed bloody on a reef, where sharks could eat me through.
But I've never been so scared as when I  couldn't find You.

I've wavered with a gun, pointing it straight at my face.
Because I've never been so hopeless as when without Your grace.

So my Love don't leave me here.
For it's losing you I fear.

I've known dying and I've been alone.
And I'd rather die with you than be alone with me.

Lord, I've known dying and I've been alone.
And I'd rather die in You than live for me.

Monday, January 23, 2017

Lie to Me

This is also a song posted at Billkelele

I came to see you, don't know why.
Now that I see that look in your eyes.
I thought you loved me like I love you.
But now I don't think you really do.

So If you don't love me, lie to me.
If you don't want me, tell me you do.
Until it's time for me to go       
And to forget about loving you.

Not long ago our love was a fact
No force on earth could hold us back.
But something's happened in months apart.
Something's that's turned your loving heart.

So If you don't love me, lie to me.
If you don't want me, tell me you do.
Until it's time for me to go
And to forget about loving  you.

Was it wrong to fall in love with you?
It was the only thing I could do.
I wish I hadn't fallen in love with you
It was the only thing I knew how to do.

So If you don't love me, lie to me.
If you don't want me, tell me you do.
Until it's time for me to go
And to forget about  loving you.

So If you don't love me, lie to me.
If you don't want me, tell me you do.
Until it's time for me to go
And to forget about loving you.

Supergirl

There ain't no Supergirls
and there ain't no Superboys.
We're all just holding on,
'til salvation comes along.

We fixed all your faults
before you even saw them.
Made straight your crooked ways                    
so you 'd never trip on em.

We made you think you're perfect
when all you are is lost.
We stole from you the stumbles
that teach you the true cost.

Of trying to make a Supergirl
out of a lost and broken soul.
Thinking you have saved yourself
when you're not even whole.

There ain't no Supergirls
and there ain't no Superboys.
We're all just holding on,
'til salvation comes along.

You can't be a super hero
there's only ever been one.
And we're all just holding on
until Jesus comes along.

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

On being True rather than Right

I confess that I spend too much time trying to "win"  arguments for my own pride.  To lord my superior..... what? Intellect?  loquaciousness? Bloody mindedness? - over others.  I realized what I was doing wrong after reading this:
You know, the older I get, the less I care about being right. I remember when being right was everything. You wanted to win every debate, to brutalize your opponents in any kind of argument, to force them to acknowledge your superior knowledge and experience. It was, in essence, a matter of narcissistic supply, of the confirmation of self-worth through demonstrating superior intellect..... 
Something changed over time. Call it maturity, or wisdom, or understanding of self. Or call it, as I do, a certain intellectual exhaustion. Whatever it is, I just stopped caring about appearances. I didn’t care to prove myself right, or to prove the other wrong.
I wanted to learn. I wanted to understand. I wanted to know truth — regardless of whether or not anyone believed me. It came to the point that I wanted to be proven wrong, in fact, for that would mean I would have discovered a new truth. My own knowledge would have been expanded. I was still emotionally invested in the outcome, per se, but not in the same manner. If the debate granted me no new knowledge, no new perspectives, it was useless. It was a waste of time. It didn’t matter if I had demolished my opponent’s argument. It was still a nothing....... 
I’m much too old for that sort of thing anymore. It is exhausting, chasing after perceived rightness. It is a path to madness. All I want to know is what’s true, and what’s false, so that I might live my own life by those truths, and share them with those I can reach
Me too. 

Saturday, January 7, 2017

The End

The end comes quickly.
It always does.
He's gone.
It's over.
I'm sorry.

Sundering once strong bonds
- as if tissue.
Of life,
friendship, 
love.

But death cannot erase
the fact of life.
Once there,
the memory
lives on.

And what once was,
always shall be.
Ever shining,
evergreen.
In our souls.

"I will always remember you"
"I will always miss you"
"I will always love you"

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Breathe

Repentance is exhaling. We breathe in God's gifts, which give us hope and life. But broken souls produce waste -  hatred, lies, betrayal. Allowed to linger, they accumulate  in deep pits of despair. So we must breathe our sin out every day.

So if a man should cry out to you from the depths, heed his call. If someone gasping for breath asks your forgiveness, grant it.

For they're just trying to breathe.

I want to breathe.