Remember Those Who’ve Passed

If you are going home one day
Remember those who’ve passed
Whose lives, now weightless, hover here
Like shadows on the grass

I think of them at moments when
I remember they have died
Their presence floats about the room
Like seagulls on the tide

In my dreams they walk about
As if they are alive
In the closet of my slumber
I summon and they arise

I wonder are they privy to
My thoughts, my tears, my lies?
Should I pay a visit today
Or just talk into the sky?

Does it matter where you go?
The ground, a wall, or in the sea
Soil, marble, ocean waves –
You are no longer here with me

The Mystery

The majesty of silence is this
A pebble on the road
The warmth below the ground in which
A seed is newly sown

The depths of coldness, dark and deep
When waters close above
That which sinks and disappears
A stone, a word, a love

The mystery of silence is this
The early morning rising mist
The letting go of self
Into one all colors melt

In The Forest

The tree that fell is heard by those
Who wield the sharpened ax
Who dream of fields of morning glory
And whisper through the cracks

The forest is the arc of dreams
Enlivened day by day
With leaf hoppers who bide their time
And frolic in the fray

Put away the ax, my friend
And tell it in the wood
The mighty oak is timber now
The sun shines where he stood

Poem for Margaret

Hey Margaret, I wrote you a poem
God bless you, my friend
The years have been long
I cannot see beyond
Now that you’re gone
So dear Margaret, I wrote you this poem

Hey Margaret, I wrote you this poem
You left us too early
I have only your song
Of friendship and wandering
And deeds you sowed strong
Hey Margaret, I hope you found home

Hey Margaret, my questions abide
Where are you now?
In the ground or the sky?
When will I join you?
The answers aren’t clear
Close your eyes – there’s hope and there’s fear

Hey Margaret, you shall ever be
Young and alive in my memory
What happens when
A weary soul is set free?
If you can, Margaret –
Please answer me

Landfall

That I must do it on my own
Is nothing new to me –
Intrepid as a seagull floats
Upon the lonesome sea

Many times I dipped my head
Into the cold, dark waters
In search of what eludes me still
The tears that turn to laughter

Once I thought I saw her
Swimming deep and far and wide
She waved me down to follow –
But I was fearful of the tide

So I thought to stretch my wings
And leave once and for all
The vast and rolling emerald sea
And seek my first landfall

The sky is wider than the earth
When first one seeks to roam
Feathers finer than a freight
To guide sojourners home

Stonecatcher

Let me be a stonecatcher
The world is sore in need
Were I imprisoned for any deed
I pray remember me

Put down your stone the weight of which
Sinks deeply in your soul
Many summers sing to you
For me there are too few

When judgement roars into my cell
Like rolling thunder clouds
Let blindness be its calling card
Mercy – its vanguard

Were you to catch the stone for me
The dawn would surely rise
On hillsides where the swaying grass
Meets the open skies

She

She is the one who sings her song
When evening comes and day is done

She holds my hand on lonely days
When she sighs, the prairies sway

Crickets hearken to her voice
To temper midnight’s sleepless void

The wind, too, hears her overture
The mountains bow and welcome her

She counts the stars and names each one
And grants all pleas and dreams far flung

She shines her light on the forgotten
Sides with the lowly and downtrodden

Would you pretend to know her mind
And fathom life and death divine?

She decrees there is no slave nor free
All are one as all must be

I Found It In An Old Wardrobe

I found it in an old wardrobe
Beneath a folded pile
Of woolen socks and cotton sheets
Was old and not in style
The color made me smile

Was deeper than the deepest hue
Of joy and fear and wonder
A sense of loss and deja vu
A life lived full of summers

I picked it up and put it on
It was a perfect piece
There was no seam, no stitch, no flaw
No stain, no tear, no crease

Now I wear the love of Christ
All hours of the day
The folds of peace envelope me
Like night the Milky Way