poetry

The Day of Promise

/ The WheatandTares

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I sat in the back, ever the silent observer. I watch. I speculate. I admire. I reminisce. They stand at the front facing one another. The stress of the day is falling off as they interlock fingers and get lost in one another’s eyes.
Stone
Brick
Burlap

Tomorrow is what they’ve longed for all their life. They think. They plan. They rejoice. They dream. They reach for that sacred ring. The weight of the promise spreading wide and becoming light as they remember the One Who keeps their hearts true.
Gold
Silver
White

She walks the aisle for all to see. She blinks. She smiles. He stares. He desires. They gaze and wonder for the days to come. The realization of hopes coming true and revealing the love forever sealed.
Happiness
Covenant
Faithfulness

Embraced with Hope.
Sealed with Love.

This Day of Promise.

Rude Awakening

/ The WheatandTares

I kneel here before You, humbled by Your call

My heart is heavy as I realize my own fault

I ask Your forgiveness for my neglecting to pray

I’ve become so busy in all the day to day

 

Oh God, forgive us for our wickedness and pride

We’ve searched others so deeply while our own failings we’ve denied

We’ve ignored Your desire to intently know our own hearts

I pray we’ve not been from You too long apart

 

Cleanse and purify this vessel from within

Strip this body of the wretchedness that it has been

Refine this heart of all the filth and the sin

Empty this mind of all the thoughts that would offend

 

Take this wayward tongue, bind and transform its desires

Wash these eyes of their sinful vision and all the mire

Purge these ears of the malicious slander they try to conceal

Chasten this soul eternally and conform me to Your will

 

Penned – MG – 7/01/02

Let Me Be Found True

/ The WheatandTares

Oh, Lord, how do I love thee?

Let me count not the ways

 

I speak of You in public grace

Yet, ignore You in the secret place

I praise You when it’s convenient

But neglect You when it’s intimate

I look to You when I remember and when I’m in need

However, forget You when my schedule is in the lead

 

Oh, Father, please forgive me from this wretched sin

Cleanse my heart and mind from within

Let me not be a person of works alone

And have not a single seed yet to be sown

Change me from this life of chaos and pride

Transform my soul to one in which You may abide

I give You my life, my heart and my breath

I surrender my dreams, my future, my death

 

Oh, my King, how do I love thee?

I pray You can count the ways

 

I desire to serve you in all my ambitions

Yet, we all have fallen short of Your suppositions

I long for the day when our eyes shall finally meet

But I fear for Your glory burns so awfully deep

I yearn to be found worthy, righteous and true

However, You spoke of many by whom Your words would be doomed

 

Oh, Yahweh, please conform my plans to Your ways

Mold me, make me into Your earthen vessel of clay

Redirect my words, my thoughts, my actions and deeds

Set anew my wants and reconstruct them to Your needs

I give You my life, my heart and my breath

I surrender my dreams, my future and my death

 

Penned – MG – 6/30/03

The Open Road

/ The WheatandTares

Miles and miles of endless lines.
White
Yellow
Solid
Broken
Never ending
Never yielding
They tell us where to go.
They show where to stay.
To some, they are a welcome to home.
To some, they are prisons that bind.
To all, these are the open road.
Long
Short
Straight
Winding
Our dreams
Our destinies
They will forever find.

IMG_8480.JPG Where I am…

IMG_8464.JPG Where I’m going…

IMG_8479.JPG

Where I’d like to be…

The Chasm

/ The WheatandTares

So many hurting souls

So much sickness

So much pain

They hold onto hopelessness

They hold onto chains 

 

So many broken lives

So much confusion

So much strife

They hold onto faithlessness

They hold onto knives 

 

My heart weeps at the loss

My spirit grieves at the void

The chasms of empty souls deepen

As all wisdom is forsaken

And all fallacies are breathed in 

 

My eyes strain from the hurt

My hands grasp for sanity and relief

This canyon of death is all-consuming

As they jump for loss of reason

And crash to the end, never resuming 

 

There is only on chance of survival

Only One can mend this paroxysm 

 

So many truths to give

So much forgiveness

So much love

He holds the very breaths we breathe

He holds the good gifts from above 

 

So many fulfilling promises

So much mercy

So much grace

He holds the moments within His hands

He holds our very life to embrace 

 

Penned – MG – 10/30/14

You Are the Lord of Me

/ The WheatandTares

Lord, You are my life line

You keep my heart beating

You keep my lungs breathing

You keep my mind believing

Lord, You are my stability

You keep me full of love

You keep me full of joy

You keep me full of hope

 

Lord, You are my refuge

You keep me safe from trouble

You keep me safe through trials

You keep me safe in tribulations

Lord, You are my future

You keep my goals in view

You keep my visions renewed

You keep my dreams alive

 

Lord, You are what I hope to become

I thank You, Father, with all of me

I love You, my God, Almighty

You are and always will be the Lord of me.

 

Penned – MG – 7/30/99

Determination of A Boy

/ The WheatandTares

Where the beaches’ crowds move from day to day under the hot summer sun,

Hidden, I watch these people, I observe their styles and movements.

By the dunes toward the edge of the highway,

A little boy struggles to reach the top of these majestic mountains,

Sliding down time and again, he begins to cry in desperation,

With tear filled eyes he changes suddenly, as he regains his strength with wind blowing softly,

Forth issue² then with smiling face.

Determination of A Boy

 

The scene and all its belongings,³ how they entrance and bewilder me,

The bright young boy with a freckled face and a determined will, the sand dunes with their winded cover and cat-tailed lops

Both determined to reach their goal

The boy (typically energetic set in an enchanting surrounding)

The motivated, encouraged, freckled face boy

The low, hoarse whisper of the wind-blown dunes, fighting defeat,

Dreaming, scheming to reach the top.

Determination of A Boy

 

Penned – MG – 1/23/90

 

 

¹ (Modeled after Sparkles from the Wheel, Walt Whitman)

http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/wwhitman/bl-ww-sparkles.htm

², ³ http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/wwhitman/bl-ww-sparkles.htm

You Do Not See

/ The WheatandTares

I stand here with my arms stretched wide;

You see me, but You only turn to hide.

I wait patiently for you to answer my call;

You hear me, but you only build up this wall.

 

I love you My child. Why can’t you understand?

I died for you. From my presence, you, I did not band.

I am there by your side at every twist and turn,

But you do not heed, my words you only burn.

 

Your ‘good’ words, I do not care.

On my back, bloody stripes I did bear.

Your pleasant smile, I do not see.

On my head, a crown of thorns I did heed.

 

Long ago, all of this I did endure.

All for your heart, I hoped to allure.

But still you wait for a better time.

You do not see that the time is only Mine.

Penned – MG – 6/27/99

Friends FOREVER

/ The WheatandTares / 4 Comments

You have been with me always

Through laughter and in sorrow.

You were with me yesterday,

And I know you’ll be here tomorrow.

We’ve had a lot of good times,

Which we could never hide,

But the hard trials were the real times,

Our friendship never died.

You depend on me,

And I’ll depend on you.

When it’s raining outside,

I know I can lean on you.

Now that we’re getting older,

Let us never give up,

All these precious memories

In this golden cup.

Changes

/ The WheatandTares

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So many things take place in one small life

So many changes, so many dreams

So many achievements, so many failures

So many memories, so many cherished things

Events happen which seemed nearly impossible

Events fail to appear which were dreamt endlessly upon

Events take on a whole new meaning

And your eyes are opened like the early morning dawn

Things change; feelings alter, and people transform, too

Nothing can forever stay the same

Smiles turn to tears, happiness to sorrow

And friendships turn to anger and the game of blame

Love turns to hate and witnessing to silence

Sharing turns to gossip and truth into lies

We need to find our change in Jesus

It is only for us and our sins that He did die

He will never change

Penned – MG – 7/30/02