It was a quiet little place.
And perhaps I was on the border of change.
How I could feel it- a new life was near!
Another person on the other side is who I hoped to find.
But change requires action.
The trick is you just start now.
No need to wait in line for a new vision and change of heart.

All ears willing to hear,
   let listen.
We must not only be
   hearers of The Word,
but doers of The Word.
This is a call to action.
let this not be a simple
   reaction of emotion.
It is time to set our lives in motion.
It is the day to live a new way.
A renewing of our minds.
Together we must say,
   "It is time to live a new way!"
Speak loudly, persuade boldly
store up The Word in your hearts.
Salvation is your reason.
In Jesus Christ is our redemption.
Love like it's repetition.
God as my witness, this is my mission.

Stones cast out over vast waters
Causing ripples I’ll never feel
Life arcs drawn beyond shores of mine
Real apart from Real

I’ll never feel the privileged pain
Pining for she who could love me so
I’ll never think to reminisce
On a life I’ll never know

Of everything that has graced
All my eyes have been brought to
Nothing in my small small world
Has ever approached the likes of you

Everything I could
Never think about

The only thing I do

The world is often smaller
Than the maps we hold in our hands

Though vision made concrete
Is the true fruit of anyone’s plans

Maybe that marks the difference
Between apathy and awe
How grandiose our vision
Before digesting what we saw

Imaginations fueled
Scraped knees
Building kingdoms in our minds
Woodland forts out of reeds

Don’t let anticipation
Spoil the ground beneath your feet
Nor adventure in action
Outweigh the visions that you seek

This world is often larger
Offering what could never be foreseen

Etch your maps, clutch them tight!
Though pay heed to the road before you

And all the spaces in between

Hope.

It is our duty.

Pray then, with me.

That those influential,
The decision makers,
The great leaders,
Public figures and speakers,
Intellectuals and all
Whom the spotlight warms,
Deserved or no,
Wake one day without hope.

Just one day is all I ask
Enough to in the following bask

They are infinitely small.

May despair shrink all
To their proper size.
Let the greatness of Earth,
Heaven and all of the Other
Overtake all and smother
Pride.

Let hopelessness all ignorance divide.

One day
To see themselves in those they detest.
One day without purpose
To give evil and folly a rest

Deconstruct their great wants
Oh, Defeatist.
Replace in our hearts
Love with completeness.

Lend an ear to these words.

Just one despondant day
To end all of the ploys.
Allow us to join the animals in the woods
With their small, eternal joys.

Repeat that

Find your twisted comfort

But it grows
Strength is waning

Yes, Hope
Yes, Grace
Yes, Forgiveness

Of the greatest magnitude.

But there is a point
Where certain concessions must be made

Infection can progress
In the eye of your mind
To the sharpest edge of choice

Die, or to be saved become blind

Lightning can’t strike
the same place twice
I came back, both times greeted
with the same empty feeling, a hollow nice
to meet you, I’m not from here though
I can show you around. And just so you’re
aware I don’t mean my soul, I’ve
learned not to bring others
out over such thin ice
melts in your drink, the sun
working on what your appetite
can’t finish, conversation
and laughter filling your stomach
instead, using up as much of the
term ‘literally’ as they can.

An empty echo is all
I hear of the storm once near
me is where you have chosen
to be, and the proximity is
refreshing, genuine. I know
because I can’t identify the source
of my affection, buried too
deep beneath hope and fear
is still present. Though I look
at it as a gift, reassurance that
I’m still aware of your ability
to snap my neck, a vulnerability
that has made everything so clear
everything out of this god
**** house! I saw the way he slid
off your blouse, our memories
and moments followed both of your
sweat and stink down the drain

my brain of all of these thoughts.
You were not the calm but
a continuation of the sleet and rain
is all I hear now each night,
soft breath and hair replaced
by an acute understanding of
the weather outside my window,
with no heartbeat to fall asleep
to, no vessel to my attention contain
my rage! This is a new page!

Lightning did strike twice.
Though the next storm
I’m sure I can persuade.