"Your hand"
When I came in to bed tonight
Your hand was stretched across my pillow
And you were deep in sleep
The span of your fingers marks all things
The distance between two points
The reasons I cry on my birthday
And the one Christmas gift you never put down
The reasons some people never get to be happy
And why young children cry
All hope for you in your heart
Was the distance between your fingers
Like dolphins curbing the ivory coast
Or flowers alight in your hair
Your beauty was born of briefness
That I will not always be there
The pain in your outstretched arms
Encompassed for me all of life's meaning
It's sleeping in the flames like a puppy
It's underneath the snow
It's when you are most afraid
That you get the closest to it
And things that are hidden in packages
And things that are too late to be learned
Things lost without an answer
And things hat will never be found
"Oh Wife," your fingers whispered
As I pulled back the covers
No more to be your protector
But many leagues till then
Let's take what we are given
And enjoy that which we have
Your long, tapered fingers tell everything
In Jesus' Name,
Amen

Oh light without a second hope
And light without an answer
Oh light with nowhere to escape to
And light with nothing to do
Oh innocent beings that suffer
And people without a home
Why is God's child crying
Why is someone all alone
Why has God forsaken someone
Who tried so hard to praise him
What if that one praises him still
Oh, won't that shake the rafters
What if he finds meaning in all the chaos
What if he finds a way through
What if there's hope in the silence
What will hell's borders do
What if the answer he sought
Is within some little flower
What if there's hope in the future
What if he finds some magic power
What if God comes to comfort him
In his Island of despair
Will the powers that Be, be shaken then
Will that which takes despair
Will he find his way through night and day
To the ivory coast of the shore
Sometimes living's not the highest gift
Sometimes there are more important powers
So when you hear of this prisoner
Wish upon a star for him
He's carrying the cross of Christ
And some hairpins and candy
What then, Oh Lord
Will you deliver our helpless soldier
In Jesus' Name,
Amen

Under the stars, the still white stars
Our hero is alone tonight
All swallowed up in the doom of all things
He endures like a little dandelion
With nothing there to protect him
He pines away with his conscience
Alone and without comfort
It's a terrible way to go
And if there is anyone to help him
His help must come from afar
The lights in the sky that guide this child
The shining of the stars
Don't you know his dreams are sweet
And his nights must be so long
The hero with the courage to try
And the little voice that comforts him
What hope is there for He?

Softly brushed onto low-hanging boughs of fir
The snow hangs heavy like fresh biscuits
And the dark cool green of the trees are thinking
Beneath them, sorting out the problem of the snow
That holds their fragile needles down
The sun is high and piercing in a blank blue sky
The snow has already fallen in the night
One can pad out in the snow with tender feet
And it creaks like a rocker under a grandmother's weight
The trees drinking the cold icewater from beneath
And one must struggle to breathe in
It is so still in the pine forest
Inside the cabin there are oranges scattered on a wooden table
And you can walk back inside and shut the door softly
While the heat surrounds you and takes off your coat
You peel an orange all in one peeling in a spiral
And lay your crocheted hat down on the table beside the oranges
And warm yourself to the heater that makes the electric buzz
And look at a magazine that takes you faraway
The bed is made up in the corner with a blue, white and red quilt
And your boots are laying against the side of it
Corner pulled back to show a soft set of sheets
And the refrigerator is full of salami and cheese
There is a photogeraph of someone expected for Christmas
And a radio beside your bed
You take off your clothes and crawl into bed
And turn on the radio and listen to the oldies
And stare off into space
Hugging yourself to yourself and thinking
In Jesus' Name,
Amen

'Listening"
A Cathedral lying gently in the snow
Of a long, dark and cold night
Inside, there is a lady praying
She repeats the words over and over
With her hands folded softly together
The winter night swirls on and on
But she is still praying to herself
She rises and silently leaves
Walking through the snow to get home
The snow piles up against the door
In Jesus' Name,
Amen

When I look out on the sky at night
I do not feel alone
For you are my paradise and my world beyond
And that I want to get lost into
If you were a world I'd wander off in it
And explore all the things that make you you
I'd get lost in learning why you smile
And when a tear trickles down your face
I'd charge into fearless war
There is no fathom to that terrible pain
No end to the suffering you feel
I hope they have mercy on you forever
Forever and ever and ever
In Jesus' Name,
Amen

I could kiss you a million times
And never become weary of kissing you
The suffering you feel now is not in vain
Some leagues hence you will be grateful for it
Like hard work put in that will pay off
Some day you will walk in the sun again
And no one will ever hurt you anymore
The messenger that runs beneath the stars
To tell his master of some great danger
May he protect you from a worser fate
A fate you do not deserve
May you be safe when the storm is crashing down
All around in fractured and colorless images
Somewhere in this madness I hope you find peace
I hope you find someone you would die for
If you would die to save the person you love
If you really love them not for physical beauty
But just because, then, that is enough
I hope you find it
In Jesus' Name,
Amen