Daybreak

Dark is the light that bows before the dawn,
yet it grows still brighter by the breath,
and more it shows each second.
Daylight waxes full and soon reveals
the destined, hoped-for
death of night.

Tears dry up and vanish like echoes,
as day resounds through reddish-dappled skies,
and sunrise grants
its glory promised.
A growing sunglow surrounds
the towns with striking
light-stained colors.
Hillsides, houses and even up-reaching skylines
shine anew
held close
in morning’s tender hands.

American Haiku

I see a restless people biting and fighting
like dogs; they growl, going for throats; grace eludes them all;
there’s only silence beneath the shouting voices.

Damnation flows in floods of Stygian waters,
while fools cry “Save us” in whimpering whispers like echoes lost in caves;
seers seek to save a God now gone.

The baleful bell rings again today;
its damning dirge tolls tortured deaths of dreamers; no one wants
to tell why time-lost bonfires turned to ashes.

Broken leaders blast their empty voices;
all-seeing cameras show such wretched sights of grossness grasping;
truth turns to trash like newspaper tossed into whirlwinds.

Papier-mâché prophets drink tea and chat while
angry mobs cry “kill” amid red wastelands; watchmen point
with warning to a panorama of plague-filled days.

Music rings around the rose and sounds
its broken notes into gaping black holes; noisy celebration
cannot mask disintegration’s hold.

The belligerent block bridges; protectors and servers beat them
bloody; angels look down with tears at hungry, naked throngs
whose cried-out song of sadness nears the heavens.

Money dances through gray-dark skies, choosing
chancey partners, while those who sink through sewers disappear;
death, grinning, prances among them undaunted.

Wasting wars wage on like freight trains rush
downhill to crash into dirt-piles; corpses get crushed, and only they
have the last lingering luxury of lying still.

Those aware behold blindness everywhere;
The unawary stare and see only shining skyscraper lights without sleep;
Neon signs sit above carcasses of cities.

Skeletons sprawl everywhere on sodden shores;
no one cares enough to bury bones while skulls wash up;
sailors watch seas for tides that don’t arrive.

Souls wither on streets as if covered with salt;
Laughing, others leave lone graves, glad to whisper jokes
and gaze away; emptiness triumphs at last.

Disease devastates the land; those untouched
put on pinkish glasses and only hear of health. When will
judgment come? The judge keeps his silence.

NOTE: Traditional haiku consist of 17 on (also known as morae), in three phrases of 5, 7 and 5 on respectively. Although haiku are often stated to have 17 syllables, this is inaccurate because syllables and on are not the same. I considered an on as equaling one foot of metric poetic scansion. Here is an example of stanza one in “American Haiku” scanned metrically:

1/I see’ 2/ a rest’ less 3/ peo’ ple 4/ bit’ ing and 5/ fight’ ing;

1/like dogs’ 2/, they growl’ 3/, go’ ing 4/ for throats’ 5/; grace’ 6/ e-ludes’ 7/ them all’;

1/there’s on’ ly 2/ si’ lence be 3/ neath’ the 4/ shout’ ing 5/ voi’ ces.

5 + 7 + 5 = 17

Evensong

In Two Parts:
Magnificat and Nunc Dimitis

Part I: “My soul magnifies the Lord.”

Jesus sought
Lazarus
in the sweaty stink of crowds.
They pointed at tombs
amid fly swarms
over dog bones.

“If only you’d been here,”
Martha wept.
He sat
to catch her tears
and add them to His.

“Believe the mystery,”
his face replied.
Her eyes grew wide
into black reflections
of Judean rock-cliff mountains.

Crowds pressed in and
laughed at Him.
He looked at skies,
tracing ragged-laced horizon lines,
snake-drawn and jagged.

Martha heard Him speaking
like desert winds,
“Lazarus lives
in the shiny spaces
next to your tight-wrapped hair pins.”

Turning to the tombs,
He shouted,
“Come forth.”

They saw Lazarus
frolic out
in thready, shedding bandages
He took
roses,
and held them with his grimy hands,
bowing before Jesus.

The Lord laughed and
waved the flowers
in clouds
of butterfly-fluttering
petals.
They embraced and
He left Lazarus with a whisper,
then vanished
into massive, shoving crowds.

Martha rushed to Lazarus.
“What did He tell you?”
She asked,
as her face sought words
with eyes that blinked
behind long-white streaks.

Lazarus near-whispering answered,
“He said:
Believe.
The rose
will bloom again.”
Part II: “Lord, let your servant depart in peace, according to your word.”

Fog slips down
a Tennessee lakeshore.
Village townfolk
rest
under clay-red sundown.
Curtain clouds
arise.

Kingfisher sits
on driftwood twisted
witch-hand branches.
Tree stumps
cringe as if away from
falling cloud-fire.
Knotted wood knees
thrust and break
into bleak horizons
casting serrated shadows.
Black mud covers
deserted clapboards,
rotted corpses of barns
and horse bones.

Kingfisher’s wings
take to the sky.
He flies
above the sheeny purple-cloud reflecting
mirror like a spirit dimly seen.
Deep in the river’s green
wet innards,
catfish spawn their offspring,
channelbottom born.

Kingfisher’s voice
grows shrill and seems to me
to cry,
“Cold waters
called out
all the old men’s names
and swallowed
their flesh.”

Still, kingfisher
searches skies
for home.

Farmhouse lights
join stars,
while windows
fade
in blackness.
Swimming lightsnakes
shimmer
on a misted laketop.

Kingfisher, silent,
takes his rest.

Prayers in Darkness

Our suffering God, who,
through your Son, Jesus
Christ, gave us redemption
through His death on the
cross, give us peace. May we
know this peace daily: that we
have forgiveness for all our
sins and eternal redemption
and resurrection in Christ.
May we have the strength to
rest in your eternal love given
to us, now and forever.
Amen.

Dear God, be our constant
helper, guide, guardian and
companion during each day
of our lives. May You keep
us in wholeness and in
eternal life, until You gather
us to yourself on the Last
Day. Then may we live in
the perpetual light and love
of your blessed dominion
forever. Amen.

Our precious
God, keep us from
cursing the
darkness and
cursing within
darkness. Help us
to bless the dark,
as well as others
in the dark with
us. In Jesus’
powerful and holy
name we pray.
Amen.

Jesus, thank you
for the one who
shares my heart
and life forever.
Amen.

Jesus redeemer, I
give all I ever
was, all I am
today and all I
yet shall be to
You forever.
Amen.

Like a sailor,
shipwrecked and
washed ashore, I
lie in gritty sand.
This desert,
deserted isle
spreads out about
me. No one comes
to hold, to heal,
to comfort or
nourish. I am
cast-off far and
forsaken by God.

At Communion,
she spilled wine
on my hands. I
looked, saw blood
and knew it was
my careless sin. I
prayed, and then
it vanished.
Jesus, take all my
sins ever, as you
did that day.
Amen.

Dear God, take
my hand. Shield
me from the
enemies gathered
here. Hide and
embrace my soul.
Amen.