Category: poetry

Sushi and the Sun

Just one thing:
like sushi
in Jiro’s life.

Reminds me of the Sun.

The Sun at the center,
outshining everything.
No stars, no moon, no planets
are visible to the eye.
They are hidden from sight
by the one supreme light.

Whether this is a life worth living,
I am not sure.
Hyper-focused on one thing
to the exclusion of all else –
Is that not an idolatrous waste
of energy and time?

To look at the sun
straight in the eye,
never averting one’s gaze,
is to be blinded by light.

(Photo by Luigi Pozzoli on Unsplash)

Save maybe …

God’s mercies fall like heavy rain
from morning clouds above;
the earth awakes alive and sane,
responding to His love.

I wake to wonders all around,
a world that smiles at me.
But though these miracles abound,
deep sadness covers me.

I long for love and joy and peace,
but find these difficult to grasp,
save maybe in a father’s wish:
an infant’s hand to clasp.

(Photo by Liane Metzler on Unsplash)

After hearing a sermon on Pride

Pride is the sermon for today,
a serious malfunction of the soul.
The preacher presented the consequences
and pointed the way to be made whole.

To be proud and to be arrogant
is to follow in the devil’s steps;
‘Tis the humble and the penitent
whom the Holy Spirit helps.

I surrender, Lord, this vicious heart
for you to cleanse and cure.
Tho’ powerless from you apart,
in you the victory’s sure.

(11 August 2019; Robinson’s Bacolod)

(Photo by Annette Batista Day on Unsplash)

The Son and the Vineyard

At first he said, “I will not go;
The vineyard I won’t tend.
There are better things that I could do.
A hand I will not lend.”

He wrote a lot of poetry
and played the piano too;
and his career was doing well-
this was what he loved to do.

But his father loved the vineyard;
he could not fathom why.
He cared for every inch of it;
for it he’d gladly die.

And the son felt guilt stirring
in some deep neglected place.
He sensed his father’s sadness
when he looked into his face.

He raised his eyes and saw the need
and thought the matter through:
“The vineyard that he loves so much,
could I not love it too?”

“I’ll go to work today,” he said,
“in the vineyard by the lake.
In spite of my misgivings,
I’ll do it for his sake!”

(Photo by Kym Ellis on Unsplash)

Abridger

My God has gracious plans for me
spanning all eternity,
without beginning, without end:
forever servant, son, and friend,

I am in his omniscient sight.
Reborn with destiny too bright,
I cast my sinful past aside,
and in his holy word abide.

And at the core of everything
is Christ my shepherd, Lord, and King:
The pattern of my future self,
Abridger of the yawning gulf

dividing holy God from man
(but by his death he has made one),
Fulfiller of the ‘ternal plan,
All glory to the glorious Son!

Of Future Worlds and Harmless Moths

I’d love to write my future down –
a future full of joy;
one free at last from tears and fears;
one moths cannot destroy.

This bloody world will soon explode
and fill deep space with red,
but I will soar towards the void
to where my heart is led.

The night will be a thing that’s past,
I’ll miss the stars for sure;
the prospect tho’ of Light’s embrace
makes up for all things lost.

Oh soar, oh soul, towards the void;
fear not the emptiness!
The tunnel’s end reveals a glimpse
of worlds all new and fresh.

(Photo by Jake weirick on Unsplash)

The Dream

The dream
made of airy reality
will fade away, though faded now,
and faded all the more shall be
when – I – the dreamer’s gone.

Oh say, oh say, what’s in your heart;
let not the dream just die unborn.
Oh pray, reveal what’s in your heart
and let your gift behold the morn.

The dream,
a blessing to the world of man,
must put on flesh and walk this earth.
When it has donned solidity
then is your duty done.

(Photo by Christopher Campbell on Unsplash)

Life’s Last Pages

I want to read Life’s last pages,
the conclusion to all things.
Maybe insight into death will save me
from the folly of the present.

But terrors from afar are unimpressive,
thin strips of light too dim
to matter in deep darkness.
The Present’s too overwhelming.

And if Life ends, and if Death comes,
and I am unprepared – what then?
I fall asleep as all men do,
I close my eyes and bid, “Adieu!”