A Child's Heart

Her little smile outshines solar rays abounding
So young and carefree
Playing tag with seagulls on the shore
Kicking up sand with her tiny feet

Tireless in her endeavors

Her giggles of laughter bring her pleasure
In pictorial surroundings
She is one of life’s treasures
 
I pray for her
Bless this one Lord
For a child’s heart is pure

Copyright 2013 Wandering Satellite Publishing

I Bought A Field

I saw the twilight explode before me
So I bought a field and sat
I gathered in all that I saw

Watching the last gloamings of the day

Taking its last peak at the day’s end
Here I can see everything

Still, I sat

Waiting through the night
Then came the early dawn

She raises the day’s horizon with the sun in tow

Brushing the underbelly of the clouds
With hue and tone

Surely all of this…the fingerprints of a creator are displayed

I begin to wonder about those
Those who do not believe in God

Happenstance belief

Scrutinizing change set right before my sight
How can one not believe?

In my field I sit…I smile, I know

Glories ebbing and flowing before me
Speak and tell

Come... sit with me in my field

Look through my eyes, my lens
And…I will show you something remarkable

Copyright 2013 Wandering Satellite Publishing

Wholly Surrendered

Like the wise men before me
Bearing gifts of myrrh and spices
Brushing aside the veil humbly
Because of the crimson stain, I kneel

Laying before you what is me

A bottle sealed with tears
Of dashed dreams, pains past
Of medals, ribbons with flair
Declaring victories of times of yore

A weathered leathered bound book

Written of my life that is no longer mine
In your presence, you’re Spirit within me
Pull my flesh from my soul
It is I who no longer live but Christ in me

May I see my self righteousness burned like dross

My entire carnal hopes carried away captive
May I then encourage myself in you Jesus
For whom can I turn, you have the Words of Life

For in you I move and have my being

You cause my heart to beat
Coursing blood through my veins
Lungs respire, inhaling and exhaling

This is the consign

To where I want to be established
For here is the furtive place of rest and joy
Not my will, desires or dreams be done
I need yours Oh Sovereign Lord, My Daddy

^{Copyright 2012 Wandering Satellite Publishing}

Roaming The Sands Of The Hourglass

Photographs are keepsakes
Souvenirs of another occasion
A footprint of the mind’s eye and heart
We live to relive some of them
The want
The need
To share
To feel the thread of sentiment again
That wove the experience
Yet the hourglass continues on
Like life
And so we roam
Looking for the next keepsake
Momentarily soothing and satisfying
Attempts to return to a place that was
Will not receive with open arms
Yet we grasp for it like sand held in a fist tightly
Holding it for a time
Before it slips through our fingers
Even the hand of The Lord Almighty
Adds no sorrow to a blessing
But within the hourglass
Even blessings after time lose their luster
Our flesh sees to that unfortunate side of us
Truth be said
This world is not my home
Yet for some they roam
Seeking the past for now that cannot be
Roaming the sands of the hour glass

Copyright 2013 Wandering Satellite Publishing

Down Below Chicago

Through the hurried
The frantic
The downtown streets
In the heart of the windy city
Below snow littered gutters
A lone solitary tune grips and seizes
The lone saxophone player plies his trade

Bluesy and soulful the melody one cannot ignore

The subway is his stage
Musty and freezing, reeking of broken dreams
Creating atmosphere that echoes through the station
Heard by the many, the countless

Many are the different faces passing by

But we are all intertwined for those moments
Having unwittingly become his audience
By no force of will of his own

Most do not stop to listen

Hurried to our next destinations in undulation
Oh, yet that soulful sound incarcerates
Captured we are

One cannot speak for others

But for me
This memory indelibly, I will always carry

Copyright 2013 Wandering Satellite Publishing

God's Splendor Runs Through It

The waterfall says all
Verve through vitality cascades through tall palisades
Its eminence seeks essence
Lilting and tilting its way down the mount
Moving over the gloss of the moss
Submerged rocks turned an esteemed evergreen
It grapples and babbles in its lope
With playful mirth cutting through the earth
Feeding the needing habitat                                
Those both motionless and moving restless
Together paired
Abated through seasons fared

^{Copyright 2012 Wandering Satellite Publishing}

Signs Surrounding You

The deaf man was asked
What do you hear?
The blind man was asked
What do you see?
The mute man was asked
What do you say?
Hear
See
Speak
All the deaf man heard was
God bless you
All the blind man saw was
Apathetic eyes
All the mute man spoke was
Just love me
Hear
See
Speak
What do you hear?
What can you see?
What could you say?
What signs surrounding you
Do you deny!

_{Copyright 2013 Wandering Satellite Publishing}

Via Del La Rosa

This man Jesus followed have I
I watched Him from afar with my eye
Now He walks stumbling down this path
Bloodied with a cross on His back
They call Him Jehovah
Making His way through Via Del La Rosa

Hiding like a thief

Following the crowds through the way of grief
I went to watch Him die
Curious to see Him crucified
While I watched his suffering and pain
My life to Him I gave, no more occasion to refrain

Soldiers, citizens mocked and disbelieved

That He was Lord and the King of all Kings
Cried out did he, “It is finished” and gave up His breath
Lifeless His head fell entering into death

The sky grew dark and the earth it shook

Now people stood with terrified looks
A man next to me turns as if to nod
Surely He was and is the Son of God

They tell me the curtain to the Holy of Holies that day had torn in two

And on this beloved day my spirit was born anew
I now can enter His presence cleansed of my life’s sins
Praise you Lord Jesus I now am born again

For much of my story this would be the end

But this Son of Man three days later rose to life again
For me everything has changed so certainly
For someday with Him I will spend an eternity

^{Copyright 2013 Wandering Satellite Publishing}

Battle Of A Lifetime

Charge!!!
The toughened bellow came
I rose and ran, weapons in hand
Confident, undaunted
Bullets fly, from both sides, zipping, whistling, from every direction
Hitting flesh, ripping, tearing
Cannon shells explode, plummet all around
Smoke fills my eyes…blinding
In trepidation and dread my flesh crawls
Death and ruin surround

As the panorama plain burns aglow

Steadfast I keep my way towards victory
Death wins, death loses
Life wins, life loses
I have struck blows upon the enemy
But in the chaos I have struck my own
Ground is gained; ground is lost and gained again

Seemingly a lifetime but I have survived

From hell and back
Realized, my Lord has sustained me
As in a surreal dream
I draw a breath
Wearily I shut these eyes
Turning my back to the battlefield
Face bloodied, caked with dirt
Rivulets of dried tears stain my cheeks
Burned in by the sun

The smoke clears

Seemingly another lifetime I open my eyes

Turn my head to look back
Gaze up into the sun
Taking in its warmth God has made
I gaze over this panorama He led me across

Through and by His Spirit

I realize I hold no malice, no hate, and no guilt
For every destructive battle, my own or from another
All I have are memories to remember
Good ones, cherished…all other memories are dead
Graves I used to walk about
Now hidden amongst a healing bloom

There are more fights of faith to be fought ahead

Yet my Lord will lead me…Victory is His

^{Copyright 2013 Wandering Satellite Publishing}

Invitation Fountain

There is a fountain
His name is Jesus
From Him flows everlasting life
If any are tired, thirsty, come and drink

He has prepared for you a place

Come, sit at His table, sit and drink
Find your cup spilling over
With streams of living water

He who thirsts, is tired and desires life

Can partake freely
So take His cup in hand
Come, eat from this Bread of Life

All who sit here are unworthy, yet welcome

Come, sit with all your filth, sin and brokenness
Here there is nothing to give, to pay
This meal, a new life awaiting you, is paid in full

All who recline at this table

Will trade their rags for robes of righteousness
Never to leave His presence
Receive freely Jesus’ shed blood on the cross

At this table Love and Grace flows endlessly forever

Your invitation awaits you at the table setting
Your name engraved forever in the Book of Life
Waiting for the always imperfect ones to sit

A cross and an empty tomb overshadows this table

In time, at this table
You will find restoration, deliverance, freedom and more
Come sit, Jesus is waiting for you
Come, I invite you to the invitation fountain

Copyright 2013 Wandering Satellite Publishing

His Season Draws Nearer

Wooded was His tree of triumph
Rolled stone reveals this tomb empty
Three nails, three days, one way to God
I believed therefore I spoke
My sins asoaked in His scarlet dye whitewashed
My soul now free in liberty

I flow through the turmoil

The uncertainty of man’s times
Condemned to his condition without reconciliation
Left to his drowning whirlpool of foolish sagacity
My serenity is not of this earth
Nor is this terrestrial plane my abode

The season of nature is at hand

Near thee His season is nearer upon arrival
Quiet thyself, thy spirit
Eavesdrop ‘til you hear His Spirit
Be hushed… with eyesight and soul
The footsteps of a Savior draweth near and nearer

Sands of the hour glass draining, contrasting

For some, the deceitful days of wine and roses
Beckon with unbelief
For the elect, the trumpet polished, at the ready
Do you hear His footsteps?
He is coming as a thief
Near and nearer

^{Copyright 2012 Wandering Satellite Publishing}

Afoot In The Snow

Pale moon shadows fall upon the lone rusted lantern and pole
In the snow where do these sole footprints go?
Looking lonely in the lantern’s yellow glow
Who lit this light in such a night?

I follow them, syncopated in time

Now they seem to pace steadier, faster, with no reason or rhyme
The whiteness is cold, and at the same time charming
Its existence is beautiful, quiet and disarming

The footprints move by the old wooden fence

My sense of aloneness brings me a warmth and pleasance
The footprints head towards old Carter’s well
So I march on for this mystery to quell

Snow under my feet crunches and chimes

Bricks and roof have toppled with time
I wonder to myself of a time distant past
When this well was alive and down the bucket was cast

The footprints stop here, at the well and trees
They do not continue on as far as I can see
Searching for more ‘round winter’s trees branches bare
That hide springtime’s hidden flora, fauna and flair

And now I wonder how I was led

Down this path in this peaceful stead
There is nobody to be seen, anywhere, no voice
I have no choice
But to move along, to go, afoot in the snow

^{Copyright 2012 Wandering Satellite Publishing}

Of Days Long Gone Bye (a state of arrested decay)

The stage was foreboding, candlelight absent
And I held daybreaks of the past to blame
So the theatre hall was empty
No more were comedy and tragedy to audience themselves
The playhouse of old is emptied
Comedy and tragedy held hostage
With no ransom to be paid

Here the sonnets of Thoreau and Shakespeare were spoken

By fame and fortune seekers long forgotten
Words and dramas still cling to the rafters
Grand balls held, loves found, loves lost
Of days long gone bye

The playhouse stage stands still

Worn but sturdy
Its painted background peeling
Living memories from the past barely hanging on
Walls standing indignant of the elements surrounding
Struggling to not give in to the years and ongoing seasons

If your still…be still…still all the more

Imagine the stories to be told if these weathered walls could whisper
But nothing is heard above the unyielding desert wind
Moving dust that rises and falls with every simple step you take
No more curtain calls
Memories and times left forever in a state of arrested decay

^{Copyright 2012 Wandering Satellite Publishing
Dedicated to the Union Miner’s Dance Hall
Bodie Ghost Town, Bodie Ca}

Me And Those Before And After

This volume of descendents I open
Written of those who came before me
As those in a family lineage

Pages yellowed and worn

Of conquests and calamities
Ends with me, an unfinished chapter

The beginning of mine mimics the same condition

Results similar
As with the ending though, my pages are white, unwritten

Through my read

I discover traits and patterns
Like them are me

Admitting I am more like them than I want

My paradigm shifts more into focus
Of learned behavior

I am my Father and Mother’s son

As they both, were sons and daughters themselves
But now, I also am eternally a son of a different Father

Interject now the Holy Spirit

My soul and flesh clash against this paradigm
He now, my only hope for transformation

From the within my inner corridors

Revolutionize me Spirit of the Living God
For I find inserted two more chapters within mine

A son and daughter

Precious more to you than me
Pages empty, their stories still to be written

Copyright  2013 Wandering Satellite Publishing

Tears In A Snowglobe

Stillness in a hutch
A relic gathering dust
She sits on a swing…lingering
Amidst barren cherry blossom trees
Petals strewn motionless about
A coverlet of pink and white on the ground

Motionless

Patient she waits for that touch
Many hourglasses go by
Until the hand of the curious
Rouses her world

She is stirred, invigorated

She lives this moment though short lived
Cherry blossoms instantly encircle
Blinding like a snowstorm
Similar to millions of glimmering stars
Soon they settle back to cover
She and her world return calm
To hibernation as fast as it woke

Painted on smile and sparkling eyes

Never changes in her watery world
I knew of a boy
Who thought he once saw tears in her eyes
I knew a girl once…just like this one

 ^{Copyright 2013 Wandering Satellite Publishing}

May This Dance, Have I...?

Like a gentleman on bended knee
Under this chandelier of glittering stars
Comets falling floating with parachutes
Lights the grand ballroom encapsulating us
May I, this dance have

We can waltz a path

Through blossomed orchards
Breathe deep your sweet fragrance I will
You can lead, than I
Ourselves lost in the roaming of our embrace

Moving through doorframes of the four seasons

We can uncover a silver lining of our own
Under a cotton white sun you shine, I’ll shine
Stirring a breeze that our pulses make
Absent in our wake

We can rove and effortlessly glide

Above the wave and foam of the seven seas
Or dance atop a forested canopy
Take flight, sip the sweet of the Milky Way
Gleaning secrets of our Creators’ galaxies

He will waltz us through paths of righteousness

Through splendid banquet halls of kings and queens
Dwellings of paupers and beggars
Whatever His will may be
May He be the Lord of our embrace!

Our fingers intertwined with curve and cadence

Dancing dreams are our days
From now until eternity arrives
The Spirit will be our compass
Always I will cover you in prayer

May this dance, have I…?

 

^{Copyright 2014 Wandering Satellite Publishing}