Like a infant I feel your nurturing touch and understanding patience.
As a child I rest in the comfort of your warm and soothing embrace.
You awaken the adventurous heart of the boy I once was, as I see the world new in you.
I stir with pubescent passion at the sight of your sensual loveliness.
You lift me to the challenge of life once again with the vigor of my primal manhood.
In the maturity of love I carefully weigh the balance of the choices that unite us.

You carry me to understanding that my age does not comprehend;
And I feel you as the child I have been,
The youth I wish I’d been,
The tiger I thought I was,
The man I have become,
And the old husband who will wisely grow old

feeling your presence.

©1998 Michael S. Davis

I depend so much on you.
In the midst of the things that cause me discouragement,
no matter what the adversity;
You are always my source of encouragement.
When I can’t seem to go on
your words, your smile, and your touch
renew my spirit
and remind me of why I love you so much.
When everything looks bad,
when it seems that nothing good matters any more;
I look and see the love in your eyes
and hope is alive, because its you I adore.
Stand by me, as I stand by you,
Spring will come again,
and life will blossom and bloom before us
as we walk arm in arm,
in God’s way,
and we’ll see Him bless.

©1999 Michael S. Davis

God made us appreciative of beautiful things.
For most of us, all those things look the same;
golden sunsets, ruby roses, emerald rings,
enthrall our eyes and bestow beauty it’s name.

But we each give beauty our own special spin,
a color, a shape, a smell that quickens our heart,
something that tells us it’s music, not just a din;
and makes beauty our own, a whole not a part.

The saying declares “Beauty is as Beauty does.”
It is what is done that sings beauty to me;
does it tickle my fancy and speed up my pulse,
and does it go to the essence of who I should be?

So, I look at you and my heart skips a beat,
and tries to keep pace with what I see there,
overwhelmed by a vision as alluring as sweet;
I’m awed to be touched by a beauty so rare.

The beauty that we each in this world hope to find,
the scarcest of wonders, the gem for which we long;
that calms restless hearts, and settles our mind,
Beauty that proclaims, “This is where you belong!”

“You’re beautiful!” I say with marveling eyes,
as I ponder world of beauty I've known,
that declaration of love and awe implies;
Your beauty beckons me and now I'm home.

©2007 Michael S. Davis

Examined in the Light of First Corinthians 13

I know that my words, no matter how eloquent or beautiful they may be,
are meaningless without love.  My actions can make my words nothing,
but the creaking of a rusty gate. I can speak God's Word with power,
revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day and
I can have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps,
but without your love, I am nothing.
I could give everything I own to the poor
and even be burned as a martyr,
but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere.
So, no matter what I say, what I believe,
and what I do, I'm bankrupt without your love.

You are patient and kind; and care more for others than yourself,
You’re not jealous of others' success or conceitedly proud;
You’re not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable;
You don't fly off the handle;
You don't want what you don't deserve;
You do not keep a record of the sins of others;
You are not happy with evil, but are happy with the truth.
You don't pleasure in the shadings of truth,
You don’t force yourself on others, you aren’t ever me first,
You put up with so much in those you love,
You never give upon them;
You always look for the best in others,
You don’t look back, you keep on going and see it through.

I don’t want our love to ever die.
Beautiful words will fade some day
but I want the reality of the life that we live together
to fulfill each of us in its love.
I know I can still be childish in my thoughts, understanding and actions.
I want grow in my loving you
with the maturity, the responsibility and passion of a man.

It is frustrating that we do not always see things clearly.
It’s as if we're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist,
struggling along as best we can.
I know the weather will clear and
the sun will shine bright on our love!
I want us to see it all together,
see us as clearly as God sees us.
I want to see you in all your love and beauty,
knowing your love, and being deserving of it,
of you … of us!

As we continue hand in hand,
There are three things we can do
To keep us moving forward:
Trust God
Hope without distraction,
Love each other extravagantly.
The best of those three is Love.
God has taught me that…
In You.

©2011 Michael S. Davis

There is a quiet space
where we escape from all our care,
An envelope of peace and love
where our two hearts rejoin.
Here we talk and pray and play
as with one heart we share
While we cuddle in these treasured moments we purloin.

Here we rest as Husband and Wife
and share as one this bed,
While as parents we toss and turn;
hearts echoing the other’s beats.
Here we find a solace in our love well voiced,
with worries left unsaid;
As we cherish our precious moments between these sheets.

©2006 Michael S. Davis

When I sit at Jesus feet,
I’m at home.

When I read His Word and pray,
I’m at home.

With my family ‘round me gathered,
As we crown Him Lord and Savior;
When He’s King of Kings at my house,
I’m at home.

©1992 Michael S. Davis

Being apart punctuates our lives with question marks.

We ask ourselves, “How long?”
So we dream.
We wonder about each other’s whereabouts.
So we believe.
We concern ourselves with each other’s welfare.
So we pray.

We doubt our wisdom.
So we trust our hearts.
We second guess ourselves.
So we act in faith.
We question our tomorrow.
So we cherish the present.

We fear the question marks that have punctuated our lives.
So we build walls;
Walls to hide from our fear, walls to hide from our frustration,
And walls to hide from our feelings.
Let us never build walls that would cut us off from the world,
Or from each other.

When I think of you,
My thoughts are never punctuated with a question mark,
But always with an exclamation point!
No question is too hard to wait for the answer.
No wall is too hard to climb.

Whatever the question,
You are the answer to all of my dreams.
This time of testing demands an answer,
But, you are the answer that punctuates my life
With the exclamation point of your love!

©2001 Michael S. Davis

We’ve been here before,
so it seems,
you and I;
So many tears ago.

But it was not this place,
not these eyes,
not these hearts;
So many fears ago.

We stood in the wrong place,
gazed into the wrong eyes,
ached for the wrong heart;
So many cares ago.

Though it seems
we’ve been here before,
you and I,
So many years ago.

This is the right place, we are here together.
These are the right eyes, clearly we see each other.
These are the right hearts, they beat as one;
So many beats to go.

©1998 Michael S. Davis

I have lived and been loved by so many,
In so many ways;
Yet I feel as if I did not know what it meant to be loved,
Until you loved me.
I have lived and loved so many,
In so many ways,
And I thought I knew what it meant to love,
Until I loved you.
Because you love me and I love you,
I can now love all these others;
Understand and receive their love, as never before.
Even God’s love is richer and fuller.
But, Love is also requires a choice,
So, I must  also choose.
I choose you,
The Love of My Life.

©2010 Michael S. Davis

Created by God,
Redeemed through His Son,
What He is doing in you has only begun.

Your special gifts,
Sent from above,
Make a beautiful difference, when framed by your love.

Conscientiously devoted,
To doing what's right,
You never give up without a justified fight.

Some say you're stubborn,
They just don't understand,
You hold in your heart, what's placed in your hand.

I love you dearly,
But that's nothing new,
Being loved shouldn't surprise remarkable you!

© Michael S. Davis 1998

In life she sowed God's Word with grace,
She sang, she taught, she cared, with smiling face;
Expressed with gifted hands her soul's great love,
As from her heart she shared a music born above.

In death she reaps a harvest gold,
And plays and sings a song of triumph, bold.
Then we note with hearts that pine and long,
Her name was praise, her life a song!

We face the night; she rises with the day,
We sing and play and send her on her way;
Secure and safe with the knowledge of Christ's hope,
She goes to God - Gloria In Excelsis Deo!

A tribute
to
Gloria Wilson Westmoreland
September 3, 1927 - March 7, 2003
©2003 Michael S. Davis

I am blessed to call you friend.
Though, I wonder how our friendship would be measured
if divided by the miles and dispersed among the seasons
that have passed between us.

Instead, the blessing has been multiplied
with each step along the journey
and we’ve found no lasting separation
for those who pause and taste of God’s good grace.

So, I thank you for a friendship - that,
with one hand, held a light
that illuminated God’s righteousness,
while the other reached out in mercy, love and prayer.

©Michael S. Davis 2000

My heart sings with the love we share together.
It beats with the tempo of our dreams;
throbs with passion I did not know existed;
aches with longing when we’re apart;
flutters with each glimpse of her beauty;
stops at the thought of life without her.

I pray that my love gives her a song,
and ask that her every dream come true.
May her passion enrich her future,
and fear and doubt last but a moment.
Let her glow in the midst of sorrow,
Please, God, keep her safe from every harm.

Then perhaps . . .
You can weave our dreams together,
and enrich our lives with each other;
as we chase away the loneliness,
and walk through this life as one.

©2012 Michael S. Davis

I look on with respect and admiration as you take charge of Your life, your destiny.
I see and understand the excitement and the fear
You are experiencing, and I delight in your freedom
As you find your way.

I am also taking charge of
My life, my destiny.
I, too, am experiencing excitement and fear
And I cherish the freedom that I have as I go my way.

My greatest joy is looking by my side and finding that,
By God’s grace and our choice, your way and my way is
Our way.

May our way be always
A way of mutual respect and admiration,
A path of unconditional love and abiding trust,
A road that winds through a joyous lifetime,
And a journey that endures throughout eternity.

©1998 Michael S. Davis

Touching the essence of your smile with mine;
While drunk with the sense of belonging,
I trace with my tongue your lips of fine wine
And my heart pounds with additional longing.
Softness and passion awake in my soul
As our lips slowly mold to each other.
You warm everything that’s ever been cold
As my heart snuggles under your cover.
Our tongues dance a dance of trust and of love,
As we taste the sweet nectar of truth.
Sweet peace flutters over us like a white dove,
And we neither have something to prove.
How can you fill me with such delights.
With just a slight touch of your skin.
I look in your eyes, whose passion invites,
Then touch your sweet lips once again.

©1999 Michael S. Davis

(A Daddy's Reflection)

You're my pretty girl,
all smiles with dimples and your hair a curl.
Then I turn around and,
just like that,
some fella's standing on the front door mat.
My little girl looks all grown up
and a little too **** in that hair and makeup.
She fills me with pride
and not just her looks,
she's sweet and kind and a wiz with the books.
But most of all,
I hold her in esteem because she has a good heart
and Christ is her King.
So, I smile, giver her a hug,
look him in his eye;
then say a quiet prayer and kiss her goodbye.

©1997 Michael S. Davis