The Battle of Night

So close I hold him that I feel his warmth
And I feel his receiving from me
Until his tiny eyes give way to dreams.
I lay him down and wrap him tightly in the arms of night.
Are you warm tonight, my love?

The dishes are all put away; the spotless floor is shining
Lonsomely in the firelight; nothing calls for mending.
Glancing over at the bed, I think I may half fill it,
But the emptiness of the one side does not lure me to it.
Where are you tonight, my love?

The window seal is my rest for now,
Though it's cold as the snow drifts slowly down,
Unseen in the emptiness of night.
As my eyes beging to close, black night turns to crimson.
Are you well tonight, my love?

You said you would go for our rustic, sweet domain,
For your love, for our child, for all the world to come,
And as courage filled your eyes, mingling with tears,
You said that you would go for our Lord.
Are you in the arms of earth tonight or with our Lord, my love?

The Undeciphered Seals

Here in Harappa, words are kindled like fires and then they die
Like undeciphered seals on the grave stones of time.
And if this is only the beginning, then what will be the end?
If we never join the fight, then how can we hope to win?
For we wake up and we work and we try not to think
For fear that we might start to put together the links
And remember that our lives are as fleeting as rainshowers,
As wayfaring men, as coinage, as fires, as flowers.
Though they're here and now they're gone, forever they'll be
Engrained on the the earth as long as earth stands eternitiy.
But here in Harappa, we will try not to think of all this,
But remain in our labor, our order, our agonizing bliss.

First Fall Breath

In this morning light, the ground glistens bold like chrystal
With dew so thick and air so cold and clean.
If you were here we might make angels in the dew,
Resting in the grass, hair mingled in the blades, soaking up the sun,
With the turquois sky above, empty and yet full.
All the storms have left behind this kind and care-free aura,
This long awaited gift--to dance in the first chill of fall!

My mind replays those childhood days,
Running through dew up to my knees--
It all returns in the moment's crisp domain.
If you were here, this morning might cast its spell over us,
But I know those days can never be again.

So I breathe in this first fall breath
And then exhale in praise
For the fall days of yesteryear,
This blanket of memory,
This blanket of dew in the morning light.

"For the LORD spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying,
Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.
Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread."

--Isaiah 8:11-13

Glimpses

(A sequel to "The Mirror Tells It All")

I've been watching you for some time,
Glimpsing at the beauty hidden in your eyes,
Tortured until she cannot be recognized,
And then seized with ease and buried alive.

You were not meant to live this way,
With your flowing hair locked away,
Your heart encaged and enslaved,
Monotonously pounding out its days.

But I promise you that beauty is truely kind,
And if you'll dig her up, you can come back to life.
See, God, in His wisdom, has made you a girl
And has plans for you to change the world,
Not in the ways of guns and knives,
But with your beauty deep inside,
With the gentle power in your veins,
Your tender courage, your quiet ways.

But as you open up your life completely to Him,
You must open the casket which your beauty lies within.