Poems

Life Struggles

Venturing the harder road:
To love someone else's life
more than our own,
to reach out in support
of another person's weakness
when we ourselves are falling,
to give another person hope
when we are close to despair,
and to offer forgiveness
when we are unforgiven;
this is what you ask of us, Lord,
and it is hard:

Hard to give
when we are poor;
hard to help
when we need help;
hard to encourage
when we are discouraged.

Yet Jesus loved
when he was hated;
he forgave
when he was crucified;
and he won eternal life
for all mankind
by his own death.

It is to faith in him
you call us --
not in ourselves;
we are not asked
to take an untravelled way
or to choose
our direction blindfold:

You have set
the crucified Christ before us
as risen Lord,
and promised
that we can share his life.

So, Lord,
with this assurance
we will make our decision
to love others
better than ourseves
and to give them
life and hope
whatever the cost.

We will press on
knowing that you are with us,
leading us to fullness of life
which cannot be taken away.

Go with us, then,
into the troubled
and perplexed world,
in which we too will be
troubled and perplexed.

Go with us
and help us
to calm trouble
and heal perplexity:

Carrying on our shoulders
the cross,
and in our hearts
the joy of service,
until Christ's work is complete
and you are glorified for ever.
Amen

Life's Bitterest Disappointments Are God's Sweetest Appointments

Out of life's misery born of man's sins
A fuller, richer life begins,
For when we are helpless with no place to go
And our hearts are heavy and our spirits are low,
If we place our poor, broken lives in GOD'S HANDS
And surrender completely to HIS WILL and DEMANDS,
The "darkness lifts" and the "sun shines through"
And by HIS TOUCH we are "born anew"...
So praise GOD for trouble that "cuts like a knife"
And disappointments that shatter your life,
For with PATIENCE to WAIT and FAITH to ENDURE
Your life will be blessed and your future secure,
For GOD is but testing your FAITH and your LOVE
Before HE "APPOINTS YOU" to rise far above
All the small things that so sorely distress you,
For GOD'S only intention is to strengthen and bless you.

Helen Steiner Rice

Games

What are the rules
To the games that we play
And who are the ones
To decide?

Why aren't we born
With a formatted list
Of requirements,
All in a line?

Where do we play-
All the miss-fitted fools
Playing "hide-and-go-seek"
For the blind,

How do we act out
The roles we must play
Without ever being given
Our lines?

D
11/03/04

My house

Smudgy windows, padlocked doors,
A bustling sound within.
A chink- a glow of candlelight
But no way to get in.

Another door- is it ajar?
And dare I peek inside?
The boys are busy churning out
The poems that I write!

Oh! Here is music! How I love
That mellow jazzy groove…
And look! A painting…purple…gold…
The colours that I use!

Smudgy windows, smeary glass,
There's chaos all about,
But pretty paintings, poems, songs 
Lie scattered in my house.

12/02/04