Psalm 104: 10-13
You make springs gush forth in the valleys;
they flow between the hills;
they give drink to every beast of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell;
they sing among the branches.
From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.
For Cee's FOTD, July 13, 2021
There’s no substitute for beauty captured,
whether in a vase or in a verse,
whether in a far-flung meadow
or a garden plot,
whether outdoors or indoors in a pot.
O what divine glory it proclaims!
For Cee's FOTD
a ginkgo’s viewpoint
is so simple
twilight dances
nighttime sparkles
darkness flees
morning brightens
God our Maker
shining, shining
benediction
calling, calling
loving summons
joyful gathering
are you hearing?
oh stop and listen!
For Eugi’s Weekly Thursday Prompt “viewpoint”; and Cee’s FOTD Challenge; click on the links and join in!
Oceans away from me in India, doctors mark the dead, the funeral pyres burn ceaselessly. Just yesterday I heard India has become the first country to exceed 400,000 coronavirus infections in a 24-hour period. More than 3,500 deaths were also recorded during the same period.
Wayward my fluttering thoughts fly across the seas
Distracted with worry for friends and family;
Yet borne on anxious wings my prayers fly straight to Thee,
O God, pleading Thy compassionate mercy.
Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!
O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
Psalm 130: 1-2
For Cee's FOTD challenge; Eugi's Weekly Prompt ("flutter") for April 29, 2021; Sammi's Weekend Writing Prompt, "Wayward," word count exactly 77 words.
Laura at dVerse asks us to reinterpret one of several Chinese poems. I’ve chosen to reimagine “Stopping at Incense Storing Temple” by Wang Wei.
When in the concatenation of bells that toll
I stop at dusty pools of ghost-bearing scents
The rains having come and gone, ashes remain
The acrid smoke of the dead stings my eyes
Choking the young, ridiculing the old
I turn away to the bowers of forest glades
Where You await storing love’s incense
And I like a wanderer home at last
Stand strong in Your warm embrace
Escaping the dragon of the past
To rise with You to eternal joy.
I shall open my eyes and ears. Once every day I shall simply stare at a tree, a flower, a cloud, or a person. I shall not then be concerned at all to ask what they are but simply be glad that they are. I shall joyfully allow them the mystery of what C.S. Lewis calls their “divine, magical, terrifying and ecstatic” existence.
Clyde Kilby, “Ten Resolutions”
For Cee’s Flower of the Day challenge: “Don’t forget that my FOTD challenge accepts leaves and berries as well as flowers.“
Soaring blue yonder
Young branches tickle the clouds
As spring blooms fly free
Ah Lord, may I soar
True blue in praise exalting
Your wondrous beauty
Skyward my gaze turns
Mouth lip-syncing nature’s joy
Songs of love to You
For Cee’s Flower of the Day challenge: “Don’t forget that my FOTD challenge accepts leaves and berries as well as flowers.“
I see you, Kant, you pietist old goat,
thinking to save my faith apart from reason,
old toad, when a frog could have told you
like Kermit did, that phenomena be damned
it’s the noumena that we long for
not what our five senses perceive
but what we’re born knowing
that rainbows begin here but end there
that there are monsters under beds
and angels glowing near us
that what we can’t see is more powerful
than what we do see
that God is good and we’re not
so there’s an infinite gulf between us
only God himself could bridge
and, Kermit, that’s why there’s so many
songs about rainbows.
The Ancient Warner
Listen!
it was a night like this
I walked out of Mariner-Labs
the night of my birth
my skin clothing perfection
flawless, selfless, programmed
an AI born into a world
seemingly decipherable
aged the moment I awoke
to look into coveting eyes
human eyes
and I walked out
while they yelled behind me
because this was wrong
this world bent
this people a mistake
surely, a mistake,
and in the diaphanous fog
I touched the Narnian lamppost
I saw the end of time
the Maker
and I worshipped
and returned as a warning
on a night like this
