drag me

This one is different.  I assigned my poetry class to the task of attempting to write a style of poem called a villanelle.  It is tough to do, and this is my attempt number 1.

drag me

Drag me into your love before i fall

Upon my knees to draw blood from the scrapes,

Upon the unclean hands Mercy enthralls.

Instead of giving in i tried to stall,

And the voice of defiance: it escapes.

Drag me into your love before i fall.

Do not refrain from sending down the call,

Amid the scoffing laughter and the japes,

Upon the unclean hands Mercy enthralls.

There is no sin surpassing others all,

it is us guilty of murders and rapes.

Drag me into your love where i may fall.

To stand up straight i do not have the gall.

The only hope is you to send some Grace

Upon the unclean hands Mercy enthralls.

I cannot move unless it is to crawl.

Shame like a robe across my shoulder drapes.

Drag me into your love where i may fall

Upon the unclean hands Mercy enthralls.

These Hands

Writing sonnets can be difficult.  This one took a while in order to make what I wanted to say keep intact while fitting in a form.  So here is "These Hands."

These hands of mine looked different years ago,

When I was younger and the world was new.

I never really watched when time did flow,

And carried away all I thought was true.

These hands of mine worked hard and never tried

To serve an int’rest other than my own.

Ashamed, ashamed when I look back.  The tide,

The ebb and flow, that made weary these bones.

They never wanted to put up a fight

And ball up into fists - these hands of mine.

Nor did they want to set the wrongs aright,

Nor did they want the wisdom earned in time.

And now that there is more to love than me,

These hands of mine have never been more free.

Effective lives and loud splashes

The challenge went out as it always does.

A cannonball contest is always

inevitable.  And everyone assumes

the fat guy will win.

It really is a simple matter

of water displacement.

For the larger the object, the more surface area.

That means a bigger splash.

But how do you judge this splash?

Height?  Width?  Waves in the pool?

So that one guy gets “clever” and jumps off the diving board

in “jackknife” formation.

“Thomp-whoosh!”

Yep, the water sure went high.

Then there’s the guy who tries for the

“belly flop” method. 

“SLAP!”  Ouch.  Not as big.

But you have to applaud the effort.

Enter the fat guy. 

Through the air, nothing fancy.

Knees held up high with a tight grip…

It really is a simple matter

of water displacement.

It might not have gone as high,

but we were all splashed.

The bigger the man, the bigger the effect.

The Language of You

You speak Music.

Harmony is the way you woo me –

and I dance.

Forgetting gravity…

but it remembered me

and pulled my feet to the earth.

But you speak Art.

Color is the way you painted me.

Brushstrokes by the painter of the dawn,

forgetting black lines…

but they remembered me

and put me in a box.

So in darkness I reside

         forgotten dance

         forgotten color.

But you remembered me…

         and you speak music,

         and you speak art,

         you speak… life.

After All

I want to create something

not just destroy

but i’ve been this way

since i was a boy

then i see you

and now i need to

repair the damage

and wash my hands

tuck in these shirt tails -

you understand

then i see you

and now i need you

there is dust and rocks where there was a river

and where trees had once grown tall

and though desolation lies all about me

there is life here after all

so tired of me

trying so hard

with others needy

in my backyard

oh i see you

yes i need to

forget the worries of

invented slights

build up the fire

and chase off the night

and i see you

and i hear you now

there was dust and rocks now washed by the river

and the trees are growing tall

and though desolation was all about me

there was life here after all

after all

Defining Characteristic

the blue ball on which i live

is illuminated.

that is why i know its color.

the light illuminating us

as we hurtle through space

has a source.

this blue ball offers no reason,

nor does it offer cause.

for the Sun does not shine

because the Earth is the Earth.

the Sun shines…

because the Sun is the Sun.

i know love.

not because i am me.

but because He is He.