I may be small to human eyes
But to God you're smaller yet
You may out-match me in strength and size
But not in faith I'll bet.

For every step that crushed my soul
You're doomed to ten on flaming coals
For every mile you drag me through
You're to match on rocks, and uphill too!

You cannot win if my trust is full
In Him who is bigger than you
For every wound you inflicted on earth
You will suffer too.

Between every I love you there's a I will forget you,
Between every I'm sorry there's a I will never forgive you,
Between every I'm okay there's a I wish you could see the pain you've caused me,
Between every goodbye there's a I will always love you,
Between every new beginning there's a I wish I could go back in time,
Between every I miss you there's a I won't be staying for you.

An image or a shadow, I can’t make out which,
Is moving in a Donnie Darko style time portal
Out of my chest in front of me.
And I’m forever thinking, will time and space ever merge
To create moments like those again?
Or will it forever be replayed in an Arthaus theatre in my stalling, staring head.
Is it always my burden to bear? Of course, I damaged you like nothing else had.
The face behind the camera peers out of objects you gave me and it has never left.
It’s no longer sharp or clear, not biting or ringing,
No surprise, no puffy, love-broken eyes  
Yet still it tears me apart.

I sit here on the 2nd floor
hunched over in yellow
pajamas
still pretending to be
a writer.
some ****** gall,
at 71,
my brain cells eaten
away by
life.
rows of books
behind me,
I scratch my thinning
hair
and search for the
word.
for decades now
I have infuriated the
ladies,
the critics,
the university
****-toads.
they all will soon have
their time to
celebrate.
"terribly overrated..."
"gross..."
"an aberration..."
my hands sink into the
keyboard
of my
Macintosh,
it's the same old
con
that scraped me
off the streets and
park benches,
the same simple
line
I learned in those
cheap rooms,
I can't let
go,
sitting here
on this 2nd floor
hunched over in yellow
pajamas
still pretending to be
a writer.
the gods smile down,
the gods smile down,
the gods smile down.
Black Sparrow "New Year's Greeting" 1992

You think I am a fool
Because I went to your school
I may not be smart
But man I am playing my part
And sleep with my wife
It’s not sad
That you had what I had
Now my life is my own
Like the house that I own

Yesterday's shadows called me back
beyond the dooryard lane
trodden with laughter that swings through the years
on nature's windowpane.

A seed of mercy cracks the earth
tangled with neglect
a letter spun from heaven's heartbeat
swallowing my debt.

The startled shoots of dormant faith
tremble at morning's first blush
and choke the frozen roots of fear
beneath the Savior's touch.

The infant leaf unwraps its strength
ransomed by the Lord
and thrusts away its broken bonds
abandoned to His Word.

I'll tarry by the feet of Jesus
carried by the cross
that sprouts a crown of matchless grace
for all who wander lost.