An Easter Blessing
Bless this day the joy of life,
The revelation of the flesh,
The paradise of man and wife
Joined to share the gift of bliss.
Bless this day the pain of life,
The passion that redeems the flesh,
The love between a man and wife
Beyond all agony and bliss.
Bless this day the end of life,
The peace within the dying flesh,
The bond between a man and wife
That long outlasts their bit of bliss.
Bless this day the whole of life,
The grace of being more than flesh,
The voyage of a man and wife
Across the mystery of bliss.
Believe, Believe in the Power of Love
Believe, believe in the power of love
To save us all from death and sin,
And God that way your heart will move.
Christ came to Earth to free us of
The state of vengeance we were in.
Believe, believe in the power of love
To change the heart from snake to dove,
To make dust bloom and goodness win,
And God that way your heart will move.
Christ arose from death to prove
That we a new life could begin.
Believe, believe in the power of love
To bring us to a life above,
A life of glory near to Him,
And God that way your heart will move.
Christ will all our sins remove
And make us feel His joy within.
Believe, believe in the power of love,
And God that way your heart will move.
Each Finds Happiness in Each
Each finds happiness in each
As love combines two lives.
So does Christ combine us all,
Those that rise and those that fall,
Each as faith contrives,
Regardless of belief.
Easter Is a Time of Love
Easter is a time of love,
A time of death and pain undone,
So we may know the power of
The love that lives in everyone.
Each love we feel, unstained and free,
Redeems us--as with you and me.
Easy in the Catacombs
Easy in the catacombs
A soul might find the Son
Shining on the patient bones
That wait upon the One,
Each a tale long untold
Regarding faith long gone.
Eggs Make Ducks
Eggs make ducks
And ducks make eggs
So ducklings can quack quack!
The chicks go peep
Emerged from sleep,
Resurfacing out back.
Erring on the Side of Love
Erring on the side of love,
A righteous rabbit races on,
Salvaging what can be won,
Testing well what well might move,
Embracing what might evil prove
Rather than defending wrong.
Even in the Best of Times
Even in the best of times,
A question may be asked:
Suppose a person needed love
To give him strength to breathe and move,
Exactly what exists?
Respond: The love is mine.
Even Though Christ Gave His Life
Even though Christ gave His life,
An ugliness still stalks the Earth;
So we must cherish His rebirth
Through beauty between man and wife.
Each soul must replicate the dove;
Redemption feels like our love.
Even Though Passions Are Common as Rain
Even though passions are common as rain,
And we must pass by as God's children are slain,
Smiling while crossing their rivers of pain,
Telling the tale of Christ risen again:
Even as we do our best to stay sane,
Redemption comes only to those who remain.
Even Though the Earth Is Sunk in Sadness
Even though the Earth is sunk in sadness,
And all its children know that they will die,
Serenity like music calms this madness,
Touching us with truth that needs no eye.
Each soul in fear and trembling waits to see
Reason drown in one last ecstasy.
Eventually, the Undeparted Dead
Eventually, the undeparted dead,
Alive without, long since gone within,
Shall arise to feel both love and pain.
There are no dead that cannot live again.
Even those long buried shall begin
Rising up towards tears and rage and need.
Every Love Redeems a Bit of Grace
Every love redeems a bit of grace,
Abetting God in filling lust with light.
So does Christ's passion passion's truth reveal:
That God Himself such love for us can feel,
Embracing us as we our loved ones might,
Rejoicing in our love as we embrace.
Grant Us All the Peace of Understanding
Grant us all the peace of understanding
Why it is that anything is here.
Happiness or horror notwithstanding,
The point of the whole thing is far from clear.
If you are perfect, why this botched creation,
Replete with hunger, torture, lust, and greed?
Why suffer on the cross for our salvation?
I understand the end, but not the need.
A perfect being needs no son, no heaven,
No purposes, no places, priests, or prayers,
No stars or sepulchers, no souls, not even
One dead fool, about whom someone cares.
Could it be perfection could not be
Without my love for you, and yours for me?
Habit Is the Hand that Shapes the Heart
Habit is the hand that shapes the heart.
A soul becomes the soldier of its faith.
Peace prevails through courage and by art.
Pride is vanity, the preacher saith.
Yet love is sky to mountains and to seas.
Evil and good lie blissful in its arms.
All may find that joy with equal ease,
Sunlight radiant above life's storms.
The character is written on the face
Even as the soul receives its grace,
Restored to innocence and on its knees.
Happiness Has Much to Recommend It
Happiness has much to recommend it,
A choice, though hard, that often satisfies.
Passing joys, pursued, bid fair to end it,
Perhaps because their truths turn into lies.
Yet one may choose a life of faith and love,
Even dogged by doubt and ripe with lust,
Ample as a river on the move
Singing down the balustrades of dust.
To love is to step forward into light,
Embracing what would else return to night,
Redeemed, redeeming by this act of trust.
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Having Walked the Tight-Lipped Jersey Streets
Having walked the tight-lipped Jersey streets,
A house to every inward-turning love,
Peaceful, neat, above all else secure,
Pausing, I am ravished by their beauty.
Years will tell the stories of these streets;
Each house, the joy of its secluded love,
As children come and go, indulged, secure,
Singed or not by life's most awesome beauty.
There is no quarter on these death-strewn streets,
Each house the scene of terror, pain, and love,
Redeemed alone by the passion of its beauty.
Heaven Has No Exit to Despair
Heaven has no exit to despair.
A faith too pure's a prison in disguise.
Passion is the impetus for prayer,
Pleading for more hope than meets the eyes.
Yet lack of faith can, too, be too complete,
Emancipating one from all that matters,
A separate, though quite equal, self-deceit,
Sustained by reason, that one's flailing flatters.
Truth demands fidelity to pain,
Ecstasy that comes and goes again,
Revealing nothing but a faith in tatters.
Heaven Is No Happenstance
Heaven is no happenstance,
As everybody knows.
Prayer leads to paradise;
Passion leads to blows.
Years and years of loving God,
Even when in pain,
And faith in Christ's great sacrifice
Simple hearts sustain.
Those who neither hope nor care
Exist in undisclosed despair,
Reasoning in vain.
Here Among the Savages
Here among the savages we amble
Apart from those not designated dear,
Pleased to watch and wonder as we ramble,
Playing with what else we'd have to fear.
Yes, we are aware of what our game is
Even as we hide behind our smiles,
Arrested in perceiving what our shame is
So long as custom clings and faith beguiles.
There's neither love nor joy but in a gamble
Each must lose before the stakes are clear,
Revealing what, unknown, the heart reviles.
Holiness Is Everywhere Around You
Holiness is everywhere around you,
A radiance that is because it is.
Perhaps you have not seen its light within you.
Perhaps you think your passion less than His.
Yet you have all the radiance of Being,
Even as you wait upon your name.
All have the capacity of seeing
Such glory as no moment can sustain.
Time requires death and resurrection
Even as each being is perfection,
Real beyond the realm of loss and pain.
How Have Chicks and Rabbits Taken Over
How have chicks and rabbits taken over
A holiday of mystical rebirth?
Perhaps the Lord has let them make it over,
Pleased with all the gentlefolk of Earth.
Youngsters needn't dream of agony:
Easter, for children, must wear more festive clothes;
And so the soft, defenseless babes they see
Symbolize Christ's love when He arose.
The Spring was always time for holidays.
Easter fun for tots no truth betrays:
Redemption is approached in many ways.
The Tomb of Christ Is But the Bed
The tomb of Christ is but the bed
He rested on three days.
Easter morn He rose again,
The flower of our spring.
On Him, arisen from the dead,
Must we, though flesh decays,
Bestow our faith that when we die
Our souls, like His, shall not long lie
Forsaken in our tomb.
Christ shall, with deep affection, when
He sees our soul's affliction, then
Redeem us with His pain.
In His eternal suffering
Shall we find grace enough to bring
The seed of faith to bloom.
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