The sound of the snow
crunching under my feet
the frozen toes and
this loss of heat
has me shaking in my car
and dreams of traveling afar
far away from here.
I can not contain this
migrant heart
when winds of change
begin to start
and here on
an indistinct day
when storms blow in
and make me say
“I’m far too long
on winter’s day.”
A ray of light
on silver thread
finding some joy
when joy is dead
my hand outstretched
and open wide
Lord help me brave
this wintry tide.
Inside the cabin
Curtains drawn
in windows of white
Reflecting the
Large flakes of snow
falling
Silently
Piling up
in its window frames
Frosting the sill.
While still
Outside on the edge
Of Indian lake
Ice has formed
miles down the road
A bell tolls
calling for its
Lost souls
Somewhere out across
The little bay
Dark and foreboding
A dog barks
Forlorn, seemingly alone…
Snow crunches
Under these cold feet
I Yearn to go
Back inside
As the invitation
Of warmth calls to me
From the tangerine
lighted windows.
This is winter
Placing its
Frosted lips
Giving tepid kisses
On faces and heart
Shivering to the bone.
When the last wrappings
fall from hands of glee
as tinsel strays too
far from the tree
within the delight
and sparkle of the eye
we capture the
mystery of Christmas
When angels adorn
and evergreen’s hung
with songs on our lips
and carols are sung
As family gathers
both near and too far
we honor the Savior
his birth and the star
This Christmas greeting
is sent for us all
the harried, the weary
both big and the small
Christ’s birth to the lowly
redeeming, such grace
salvation for everyone
the whole human race.
As I heard the news my heart fell down
Such sadness filled my soul
How hatred and sin can hurt a town
While darkness takes control
As I heard the story unfold today
I cried to think of such loss
Of children gathered in Jesus’ arms
And the pain and sorrow it cost.
As I heard I wept for all the Moms and Dads
Who, with gifts under the tree for a child
Who have entered into heaven’s gates
And saw Jesus’ face and loving smile
It made me hold my children tighter
As I treasure their embrace
My prayers go out to those parent’s lives
For there are tears today on Jesus’ face.
Such sin and shame is brought to mind
Such sorrow breaks our light
As I heard the news my heart fell down
The dawn comes after the night.
In Autumn
when the cows
huddle together in the
mornings
as the sun dips
lower in the sky
lingering but for a moment
then disappears behind
the snow clouds, for
months of hibernation;
we gathered at the orchard
to pluck the bounty
from fertile limbs
bowing low
leaves, green
and thick like warm
blankets in winter.
We pull the reds and greens
full of juice as it runs
down the chin
capturing purity
with a hint of bitterness
as an after taste chaser
but for just today,
bags hanging from arms
we depart content
with the harvest
though leery of what
tomorrow holds.
Coating the earth, dormant
Tree tops bowing heavy
Protested by the birds above
And the residence of squirrels
Perched in holes near the thicket
Of pine needles bursting forth in all directions
The sound of breaking glass or
Crinkle chips under foot as we
Wander out in the still evening
Crisp, below freezing the wind
Whispers on the cusp of the new
Snow just fallen. ..in the whisper
The nagging reminder that it has begun
The race has started,
The doldrums of early sunsets
And dark midnight’s solemn chorus
Howls in frost bitten ears;
Perhaps this time I should have worn
my stocking hat…but ah
This season of frost and snow
Beckons me onward and I
Break the unseen underfoot
Blanketed until the melt of
early spring…when life renews
its hibernation and these ears
stop protesting the bitter breath of winter.
Hard light bathed them-a whole nation of eyeless men,
Dark bipeds not aware how they were maimed. A long
Process, clearly, a slow curse,
Drained through centuries, left them thus.
At some transitional stage, then, a luckless few,
No doubt, must have had eyes after the up-to-date,
Normal type had achieved snug
Darkness, safe from the guns of heavn;
Whose blind mouths would abuse words that belonged to their
Great-grandsires, unabashed, talking of light in some
Eunuch’d, etiolated,
Fungoid sense, as a symbol of
Abstract thoughts. If a man, one that had eyes, a poor
Misfit, spoke of the grey dawn or the stars or green-
Sloped sea waves, or admired how
Warm tints change in a lady’s cheek,
None complained he had used words from an alien tongue,
None question’d. It was worse. All would agree ‘Of course,’
Came their answer. “We’ve all felt
Just like that.” They were wrong. And he
Knew too much to be clear, could not explain. The words —
Sold, raped flung to the dogs — now could avail no more;
Hence silence. But the mouldwarps,
With glib confidence, easily
Showed how tricks of the phrase, sheer metaphors could set
Fools concocting a myth, taking the worlds for things.
Do you think this a far-fetched
Picture? Go then about among
Men now famous; attempt speech on the truths that once,
Opaque, carved in divine forms, irremovable,
Dear but dear as a mountain-
Mass, stood plain to the inward eye.
Hard light bathed them-a whole nation of eyeless men,
Dark bipeds not aware how they were maimed. A long
Process, clearly, a slow curse,
Drained through centuries, left them thus.
At some transitional stage, then, a luckless few,
No doubt, must have had eyes after the up-to-date,
Normal type had achieved snug
Darkness, safe from the guns of heavn;
Whose blind mouths would abuse words that belonged to their
Great-grandsires, unabashed, talking of light in some
Eunuch’d, etiolated,
Fungoid sense, as a symbol of
Abstract thoughts. If a man, one that had eyes, a poor
Misfit, spoke of the grey dawn or the stars or green-
Sloped sea waves, or admired how
Warm tints change in a lady’s cheek,
None complained he had used words from an alien tongue,
None question’d. It was worse. All would agree ‘Of course,’
Came their answer. “We’ve all felt
Just like that.” They were wrong. And he
Knew too much to be clear, could not explain. The words —
Sold, raped flung to the dogs — now could avail no more;
Hence silence. But the mouldwarps,
With glib confidence, easily
Showed how tricks of the phrase, sheer metaphors could set
Fools concocting a myth, taking the worlds for things.
Do you think this a far-fetched
Picture? Go then about among
Men now famous; attempt speech on the truths that once,
Opaque, carved in divine forms, irremovable,
Dear but dear as a mountain-
Mass, stood plain to the inward eye.
CS Lewis
Hard light bathed them-a whole nation of eyeless men,
Dark bipeds not aware how they were maimed. A long
Process, clearly, a slow curse,
Drained through centuries, left them thus.
At some transitional stage, then, a luckless few,
No doubt, must have had eyes after the up-to-date,
Normal type had achieved snug
Darkness, safe from the guns of heavn;
Whose blind mouths would abuse words that belonged to their
Great-grandsires, unabashed, talking of light in some
Eunuch’d, etiolated,
Fungoid sense, as a symbol of
Abstract thoughts. If a man, one that had eyes, a poor
Misfit, spoke of the grey dawn or the stars or green-
Sloped sea waves, or admired how
Warm tints change in a lady’s cheek,
None complained he had used words from an alien tongue,
None question’d. It was worse. All would agree ‘Of course,’
Came their answer. “We’ve all felt
Just like that.” They were wrong. And he
Knew too much to be clear, could not explain. The words —
Sold, raped flung to the dogs — now could avail no more;
Hence silence. But the mouldwarps,
With glib confidence, easily
Showed how tricks of the phrase, sheer metaphors could set
Fools concocting a myth, taking the worlds for things.
Do you think this a far-fetched
Picture? Go then about among
Men now famous; attempt speech on the truths that once,
Opaque, carved in divine forms, irremovable,
Dear but dear as a mountain-
Mass, stood plain to the inward eye.
CS Lewis
Pastor's Ponderings 