little girl, get up.

a red sky
a curly-haired wonderer
sprinklers
and silence

a sense of the sacred
pervades it all
(the whole world)
perfection

blessings are velvety musk
and eveningbeauty
heaven is love
and dim and everywhere

angels lurking at the corners
and in the shadows of places i have cried
and begged for peace.
with creaking and sighs
they dwell in stained glass
immortalized
till night when they
spread wide their many-eyed wings
and glory fills the night
like water in a flooded valley

hands over my eyes
i wander
hands over my mouth
i wonder
and marvel at glory
sola deo gloria
sola deo gloria

restore me lover to your good graces
and show me paths of truth and peace
i know no one beside you
my heart is altogether yours
dona nobis pacem
dona nobis pacem

in unity forgo these strivings
overwhelm us with shattered
shards of painted glass
rise in us like music’s wings
hovering in a little girl’s soul

you terrify me with your rain
and glass and nephilim

today is a celebration
a wild raucous day of
thunder resounding
and winds rushing
to acclaim the one who
makes new dawns
the leaves applaud wildly
the maker of New
and i laugh and smile and wave
at the Lord who comes
a devout subject at a kingly procession
aching for a glimpse of him
through his curtains of rain

oh it is a majestic day
of royal love
my head is wrapped in madness
of glory and praise

i the witness of the divine
proclaim:
this is what we live for,
this roaring jealous above&within
king of all, commander of universes,
riding on steeds of storm and steel
lightningbolts lighting his way,
a thunderstorming God
ancient and strong with the might of
a thousand silver lines of time
and a million golden raindrops
glinting in the glory of his sun

i shine my light
firefly
notice me and love me
be enthralled, entranced
i am more than the evening
i am her adornments
her proof of fertility
while in daylight you are repulsed
when night falls you pursue me,
requesting only my stillness
and my steady glow
in the palm of your hand
you long for my favor,
my capture, my surrender
and you delight in letting me go
for another day
———
I wrote this last semester. I don’t remember now what it was about, but I like it. I wonder if it was just to be straightforward-ly about fireflies…hm.

oh i cast my life on you
and didn’t know you
dangerous dangerous first fiery love
so glad i was swept away
so glad our story has been swept away
an epistle written in sand
drenched and pulled to the depths by the waves
drowned and watery and beautifully dead
pearls will grow like fruit from our song
safe and away from men and earth

i still don’t know you never did never will

at the bottom of the ocean now
beautiful majestic ruined
a sunken ship,
a witness to rich fools and poor dancers
who sailed into disaster
unflinching against the
great pure whiteness of ice and sea;
that jewel of Us
slumbers on the ocean floor
while You and I escape
on separate lifeboats

godspeed,
goodbye.

well i guess it hurt to know
how i shut you up and shut you out

i can imagine you in the shower
scrubbing myself off of you
to the clean morning view
scrubbing hard to the rhythm of the
accusations that ran like a litany in your head
that ran down with the water over you
that ran through the humid air
true ones of course that
i wasn’t good enough
well neither were you
oh how young
and selfish we were

selfless too
we gave everything for each other
those years of no one else matters
those years of i worship you
those years of foggy windows and backseats
of stolen kisses and sunny hearts
i lost my self in yours

crazy how you get out and realize
you never knew him
oh well now i’m
clean

God our Father, seed divine
in our barren souls reside
pour into us your joyous light
till out of us your beauty shines

light of beauty, light of life
fill our hearts and fill our eyes
with mercy love and joy divine
till you pour out of all our lives

use us thy purpose to fulfill
clear away the dirt and grime
of falls and failings, souls so ill
and come o lord in your sweet time

you’ll shine your light in all the earth
sending darkness far to hide
with love you’ll undo adam’s curse
with love the church will be your bride

take our hands and lead us on
show us how to show your grace
and when at last you come at dawn
in delight we’ll see your face

come our father, come our king
claim as yours our everything
come our jesus, come our lord
with gentle love conquer the world
come our spirit, come our peace
let love and justice never cease

For anyone who tried to access the link to Stuff Christians Like on the righthand side of this page, I mistyped the address and have fixed it now.

Janelle suggested it, and it is so funny! I love this guy’s sarcastic humor, and I love how he often (but not always) pulls his satire around to make a keen observation about church/Christianity/Christians/God.

i wish i knew what it was like to be a
good christian
who can sit in a pew without wondering
what the people around her are thinking of her
effortless, quiet, gentle
traipsing delicately along the path of life
clinging to her savior’s arm
and clutching gently a parasol
giggling – o jesus! you’re so clever
when she trips,
he catches her,
she fawns

but my walk is more of a
slow halting crawl up
the sheer cliff of a mountainside
hands bleeding, feet cramping,
arms about to give out.
and jesus is the rope
that burns my hands
whispering as my fingers slip
“there’s balm at the top”
i glance up
and am blinded by the sun
the rope creaks:
“hand over hand. climb.”

hostile and abrasive
that’s me!
bastard child of a faithful god
who can’t seem to get things right
a mistake, an accident, hopelessly indecent
why do i even claim the name of christ?
i dirty it every time i utter it
when i speak “jesus”
it sounds sullied and marred

if i could do it all over again
knowing what a failure i’d be
i would’ve chosen atheism
because i suck at morality,
goodness, righteousness
the juicy sweet fruit of the spirit
finds nowhere to grow here with me
i wish i hadn’t signed that contract
i wish i hadn’t prayed that prayer
i want out
i hate this person i am
sweet jesus, let me go
you don’t want me, i swear

look at the beautiful men and women
who love you and others so selflessly
you have enough of them -
i know because i’m drowning in their sweetness
and it’s a cruel way to die

so let go of me
i’ll be just another less-than-human
clamoring at the gate of hell