Darkness

Darkness

Layers and layers of darkness

Layers and layers of suffocating darkness

Darkness

I use the darkness to hide

I use the darkness to hide who I am

Darkness

Simultaneously friend and enemy

Simultaneously best friend and relentless enemy

Darkness

It allows me to hide

It allows me to hide my truths

Darkness

Devours and snuffs out light

Devours and snuffs out the light of possibility

Possibility that feeds dreams

Possibility that fuels desires

Possibility of what could be

Possibility that allows for full flowering

Possibility that allows for sight

Possibility that helps us breathe

Possibility that allows us to see who we could be

Darkness that snuffs out that sight

Possibility that lifts us up and allows us to breathe

Darkness that drags us down and sucks up air

Not all darkness is internal

Some is imposed by others knowingly or not

Some is laid by things said wrong

Respect and love can lift the darkness

Lift it and shatter it

But their lack imposes it all the more

And can make it harder to break

See part and see all

Don't let the darkness hide you

Don't let the darkness win

So they say

But saying is easier than doing

Doing when crippled by doubt and worry

Let your light shine

Shine for all to see

But what if they refuse to see?

See who I truly am

See what I want to show

See that which is within

So I choose darkness

Darkness to hide and protect

But that same darkness is killing me

Ugly Beauty

Sparkling, shiny, shimmering, splendid

A beautiful surface hiding rotting meat

What sounds beautiful turns out to be clamorous noise

What looks pretty turns out to be ugly beneath the surface

Life affirming? Only if a vampire gives life

Uplifting? Only if drowning lifts you up

When up is down and down is up

And right is wrong and wrong is right

You will see the truth

The truth that was hidden in plain sight

The truth you refused to see even though you could

The truth that corruption and decay have taken root.

Look at the bodies left strewn in its wake

Look at the lives left broken and in ruins

Look at the destruction it has wrought

It might have been truly beautiful once

It might have been beautiful through and through

But now it's beauty hides ugliness

Now is the true face revealed

It leaves behind festering wounds

It leaves behind sucking chest wounds

From where it has ripped out hearts and destroyed them

Healing, life, love - of these it knows nothing

All it knows is lying, manipulation, deceit, and control

It may turn out some beauty, but it's beauty is barely skin deep

Just as beauty can hide ugliness

Ugliness can hide beauty

If only you have the patience

And sight to see what is true

Don't let dress and frippery fool you

Look within to see what is truly there

Don't let the pretty bauble blind you

Use your sight to truly look and see

For what do you want?

True beauty?

Or the facade of true beauty?

That is the question.

Impact

One word

One word can make a difference

It can save a life or end it

It can make a day or destroy it

One word

What a difference a word makes

It can tear down or build up

It can tear down a spirit or uplift it

One word

You never know what it can do

You never know who needs to hear it

You never know how it can help

One word

Your one word made my day

Your one word made me smile

Your one word lifted me up

One word

You will never know how that one word made me smile

You will never know how much I needed to hear those 8 letters

You will never know how that word made me feel

One word

What word had that power

What word had that magic

It was a simple word

One word

Handsome

Identity

Who am I?

I do not know

Round and round and round I go

And where I stop, I do not know

Once upon a time I thought I knew

But as time moves on, I am not sure I do

I thought I was this, I thought I was that

But now I realize, I am not sure where I'm at

Questions I have

Things I am wondering

I have no clue

Into what I am blundering

I know I am me

I know I am free

I don't know what to think of thee

I am not clear

To where I am heading

Nor do I know

What idea I am wedding

I have many questions

To ask of myself

Ideas that I once had

I now put on a shelf

I once thought that I knew

Who and what I am

But now I see

That it all was a sham

Who am I?

I do not know

Round and round and round I go

And where I stop, I do not know

"To and Fro"

Buffeted to
And buffeted fro
Hit from the front
And hit from behind

Friend or enemy
I know not which
It is hard to tell
Which is which

Accusations flying
Mouths are dropping
Knives are out
From the unlikeliest of places

Solid allies are now questionable
What you thought you knew
You don't know anymore

Places of safety are no more
Or so you have to wonder
After what has happened

Old wounds long since thought gone
Coming roaring back to the surface
Brought back by those who are supposed
To be friends

Do you walk away?
Do you run away?
Or do you stay and
Try to fix what has been broken?

That is the question.
The answer, I do not know.

"A Prayer Poem"

I was trying to find a prayer to lead off a meeting at my church and had the opening stanza here stuck in my head.  I couldn't see a prayer with that in it, so I wrote down the following prayer poem.  A little basic, but I still love it:

----------------------------

God of our hope
God of our fears
God of our joy
God of our tears

God of today
Whether we are far or near
God of tomorrow
You are ever near

God of love
Who holds us tight
God of hope
Who gives us light

God of plenty
Who gives us to eat
God of light
A lamp to our feet.

God up in heaven
Looking down in love
God here on earth
Bringing your peace from above

God of all time
Who holds us in your hand
God of compassion
Before you we stand

God of all things
Protect us with might
Give us your wisdom
Now and on all nights.

Amen.

"Voice for the voiceless"

Je dois être une voix pour ceux qui sont impuissants à parlent d’eux-mêmes

I am the CEO in the high office
I am the jobless person in the alley
I am the professor in my ivory tower
I am the student struggling to understand
I am the millionaire living in my lavish mansion
I am the homeless person living on the streets

Debemos ser una voz para aquellos que son incapaces de hablar por sí mismos

I am Trayvon Martin
I am George Zimmerman
I am Matthew Shepherd
I am Sandra Bland
I am Adolf Hitler
I am Maya Young
I am Noony Norwood
I am Philando Castile

I am sinner and saint
I am woman and man
I am innocent and guilty

Kuralkaḷ illāta makkaḷukku, nāṉ avarkaḷiṉ kurallaka iruppēṉ

We are all star stuff
We are made of the same stuff that makes the stars
We must love all
We must be all
We are one
And one we are

Different, yet the same
Unique, yet identical
Individuals, yet a group
E pluribus unum

Dzayn peetee leenehm anhayt neh reem

We are Trayvon Martin
We are George Zimmerman
We are Matthew Shepherd
We are Sandra Bland
We are Adolf Hitler
We are Maya Young
We are Noony Norwood
We are Philando Castile

We are sinner and saint
We are woman and man
We are innocent and guilty

Na-noon bung-uh-ri wah go-doke-han ja-ee song-sa-rur wee-ha-yuh eeb-ur yur-ay-oh

We are the CEO in the high office
We are the jobless person in the alley
We are the professor in an ivory tower
We are the student struggling to understand
We are the millionaire living in a lavish mansion
We are the homeless person living on the streets

I must be a voice for the voiceless

We must be a voice for the voiceless
For just like us, the voiceless
Are fearfully and wonderfully made
Just like us, the voiceless
Are made of star stuff
The stuff of the stars

Je dois être une voix pour ceux qui sont impuissants à parlent d’eux-mêmes
Debemos ser una voz para aquellos que son incapaces de hablar por sí mismos
Kuralkaḷ illāta makkaḷukku, nāṉ avarkaḷiṉ kurallaka iruppēṉ
Dzayn peetee leenehm anhayt neh reem
Na-noon bung-uh-ri wah go-doke-han ja-ee song-sa-rur wee-ha-yuh eeb-ur yur-ay-oh
I must be a voice for the voiceless
We must be the voice for the voiceless