hungry as we are

Hungry as we are
For hope
For peace
For rest

We gnaw on the bones
Of fears
Of hurts
Of doubts

And neglect the feast
That awaits us
In breath
In truth
In now

Return

We return,
eventually,
to what we love

and find solace
in the heartache
and bliss

we have found
in creating

Sunset Side

I have seen the sunset side

Of you

I have been lovingly, carefully bruised

By the surgery you have done

On my heart

You are taking me

Apart

I watch the words fall

I watch the words fall

Like raindrops

On a windshield

Slipping, connecting

Forming streams

And forging rivers

I watch the words

As if they were not my own

As if they came from

Somewhere else outside me

For I have lost them once

And sometimes the fear of silence

Blinds me

So I watch the words fall

Like raindrops

As if they fall from the skies

Though they fall
Unexpectedly
from my own

Gold specked

Bloodshot

Hungry

Eyes

Slip

I look into the glass

It is melting

My reflection

Distorting

Slipping

Like waves through my hands

A tidal wave

Everything is ephemeral

Everything is rice at a wedding

Trampled underfoot

The light refracts

With a misstep

We broke our mothers’ backs

It was a long labor

And the pangs echo

Like the end of the world

It is coming

Like a train

And like a tornado

Like the last rain

Before the flood

Three

Two

Morning Battle

I do not battle

Sleep

In the morning

I do not battle

The sadness

Not really

My battle is

The darkness

Invisible

Masked

By the dawning

There is a trumpet sound

Unheard

There is a battle cry

In the silence

There is a battle drum

Inside us

While the deaf world

Is stretching and yawning

Yes, we hear the darkness

In the dawning

I can hear the birds again

I can hear the birds again

Feel the sun fill up the room

And smell the freshness of the grass

In the dew like April rain

I can feel the words again

In my pen tip quivering

Waiting for awakening

This this this

Is everything

I can feel the pain recede

Slipping down my spine like

Greywater

All the mothers tell their daughters

It will be alright again.

Yes, here inside my wounded head

Resting there above my eyes

Once aching, empty, stonelike, dead

Something something

Gently rise

Years of heart sore, twisting pain

Gives way to birdsong

And to rain

A streak of blue

A streak of blue

Across the horizon

All of the clouds are gone

Every word is sleeping

None of the birds sing their song

But there is a melody

Here in my chest

Just waiting

Under my breath

For I know the Spirit of God

And faith

Has overcome death

The sky had packed up the stars

The sky had packed up the stars

And taken the bus down Highway 11

Because nothing would ever be the same again

The Birds Are Singing Through the Rain

The birds are singing through the rain

I know their song

For I will praise Him in the storm

No matter how long