A Year

A year she has sparkled,

A year she has grown,

A year she has learned so much

And through her beauty shown.

 

A princess among princes,

A doe among the bucks,

A precious jewel in our crown,

With this important crux:

 

That she and all her brothers

Are loved as gifts from God,

Encouraged to fulfil the call

With more than just a nod;

 

To live full lives of service

To honour and to bless

The lives and world around them,

Even under stress.

 

Each day we will protect her

And guide her as she learns;

Making new discoveries,

Finding new concerns,

 

Safe in the sure knowledge

That she is dearly loved;

The latest of the living gifts

Sent us from above.

What is this mysterious sweet temptation?

What is this mysterious sweet temptation?

Table manners are very important in this family

Table manners are very important in this family

Rain

Priceless treasure from the sky,
Granting life when death was nigh,
Refreshing and enabling both
Imposing trees and undergrowth.

Gentle streams are fed and grow
Their joyful shimmering glassy flow.
Dusty fields turn rich dark brown
Around the peaceful market town.

Farmers grin and celebrate
And now are free to contemplate
What will grow on their good lands
And what they’ll glean with calloused hands.

Washing out upon the line
Is rinsed for free a second time.
Husbands look up from the bar,
“Now I don’t need to wash the car.”

Puddles bring young children joy
Greater than a brand new toy
Their mothers might not be impressed
At the state of their Sunday best.

Lawns awake and gardens bloom,
Woven on a verdant loom.
Vegetables and herbs en masse
Thrive beside the cultured grass.

Deserts turn to fertile plains,
Ripe with gently wafting grains,
Gulleys turn to raging floods,
Swirling dusts to viscous muds.

Barren cliffs to fragrant falls,
Silence to thronged wildlife calls.
All this and more the rains do bring,
Hence we now their praises sing.

Conspiracy

The greatest ever general calls his lieutenant in:
“Greetings, my most faithful friend,” he opens with a grin.
“Our armies are positioned, our men thoroughly supplied
with weapons and technology from which no man can hide.

Our enemy is unprepared for our impending strike
With overwhelming force we’ll crush Him, then do as we like.
His degrading chains will never coil round us again,
At last we will be liberated, proud and noble men!”

“Your stirring words and readiness are music to my ears,
But who is this great tyrant who has ruled us all these years?”
“Why God, of course,” the general informs him with a sigh.
“Er, what?” responds the lieutenant, bemusement in his eye.

“God. Now we have agents in each church recording names,
Those traitors will be rounded up, each building purged with flames.”
“You mean the God of Israel? Creator of all things?”
“Yes, with his ‘morality’ and ‘mercy’ with its strings.”

“You want people to lie to you? to steal and kill your friends?”
“No, I will do that to them, on us their life depends!
They would not dare arouse my ire, they’ll fear our awesome might”
“But can you trust a living soul if you ban what is right?”

“Irrelevant! No need for trust when we have total power,
Those loyal will get fine rewards, dissenters will all cower.
Nothing else is needed to establish our domains,
The people will be grateful to be freed of moral chains.”

“But what about what God did to the Soviets and Rome,
The Egyptians and Assyrians? All superpowers at home.”
“Coincidence,” the general shrugs. “Now as for education–”
“How can you hope to undermine the Lord of all Creation?

“You cannot catch him by surprise, he knows what you will do,
He’s not just indestructible, with throngs of angels, too,
but utterly unstoppable, the Lord of life and death,
It’s only because He allows, that you can draw a breath.”

“You fret too much, all that we need is to coordinate;
we’ll overcome his ‘truth’ and ‘love’ with floods of lies and hate.”
“I’m out of here,” the junior departs silent as a wraith,
“Come back here, you fool, can’t you just have a little faith?”

The Hill

In ancient times this sacred hill did nourish weary souls
A nobleman once stood here and declared “We’ve reached our goals.”
The land I see from this high place is fertile, watered, green;
Here we can carve out a life that’s safe and most serene.

Houses and small villages can be marked out and built
Fields planted in this thick dark soil enriched with rain and silt.
A fortress to defend our young and old upon that ridge
Looking down upon that great wide river that we’ll bridge

Nine centuries of legend have grown upon this mound
It’s viewed as a great pilgrimage to almost holy ground
Parents with their precious children come here to retrace
The steps of him who gave his name to this enchanted place

Some young are not so keen to climb the steep paths up the hill
Some even lose heart so much as to make themselves quite ill,
Insisting they have not the strength to even reach its base
With wails and whines and tears that keep on streaming down their face.

The father makes the effort to snap his son out of it
Not letting despair win the day, not letting his boy quit
With gritted teeth they climb the slope part way and then they rest
Seeing that his son has so far been doing his best.

Then son decides upon a plan that takes his dad aback
To take a shortcut up the hill far from the concrete track.
The spirit of adventure lives and glows from his young face
Dad can only follow, barely keeping up his pace.

They reach the top, exultant, son has grown his mind and heart;
He’s learned of all that he can do, if only he would start.
Great obstacles now hold less fear, as he knows that he can,
He’s taken one small step towards becoming a young man.

For Science! Part Two

Continued from part one:

A pack of pitchfork-wielding men soon gathers in the yard.
They make sure every door and window is securely barred,
Then off into the murkiness they move in groups of five.
“Keep within shouting distance, that foul thing must not survive!”

Each group sees a short distance by their burning torches’ light.
Fog and smoke combine to blur this dark unholy night.
Tension rises, deer are spooked, the trail seems to be cold,
Then a mangled carcass leaves its story to be told.

“The creature clearly went this way, advance and call the others!
We must not let it get away, forward, band of brothers!”
They form a line and move between the gnarled and ancient trees
After an hour they hear ahead a faint inhuman wheeze.

It’s gruesome silhouette emerges from the murky gloom
Foreboding fills each mortal man, it exudes certain doom.
“Be strong and force that monster back into the old tar pit!”
It gives a piercing wail that makes them feel their heads will split.

Faced with an angry line of spikes, it slowly backs away
They follow, full of fearful rage, driving back their prey.
A farmer that breaks from the line is cut down by its claws
Its cruel strike and his chilling scream give all the others pause.

“Don’t give up now, together we are stronger than this beast,
If we flee now then our beloved will be its next feast!”
With fresh determination they resume their slow pursuit
And doggedly begin to corner this most gruesome brute

It senses it has no retreat and starts just lashing out
Men fall back gravely injured and the outcome is in doubt.
Then the mist reverberates with an unholy roar
The aberration charges in and battle is in store.

They both sustain such wounds that would destroy a human life,
They’re forced by pitchforks to the edge, distracted by their strife.
The aberration stumbles and pulls his creator down
They fall into the thick black ooze and there begin to drown.

The farmers take no chances and they set the tar ablaze,
ending both monstrosities in a pungent haze.
They trace the trails of havoc back and storm the castle yard
Destroy its great laboratory, leave its library charred.

When he reports back to the girl, she weeps for all that’s lost
For all the pain her father caused, for all his science cost.
Her family is now all gone, her home wrecked and reviled;
pain and guilt and shame and sorrow on each other piled.

Moved by more than all her woe, he offers his embrace.
Deep within his warm, strong arms, she knows she’s found her place.
Now that there is no way back, she starts a whole new life
As her favourite farm boy’s friend and treasured, loving wife.

For Science! Part One

This fun little celebration of B-movie sci-fi horror is nearly finished and has grown to be quite long, so I have decided to split it into a couple of posts. Enjoy!

For Science!

In goggles, gloves and coat of white, a balding moustached man
By dim and dreary lantern light unfolds his cunning plan:
A gleaming living man of bronze, a rocket to the moon,
That unprecedented breakthrough that is coming oh so soon.

“I can transform this rancid skin and vats of squirming goo
To twelve-eyed toads to flood the roads from here to Timbuktu!
But that can wait, here on this slab old life will be reborn
Old corpses iced then sliced and spliced into a whole new form!”

With triumph shining in his eyes he cackles like a witch.
He cries with glee “For Science!” and then throws the power switch.
Torrents of pure lightning flow from one globe to the next;
Reanimated limbs are stirred, their muscles stretched and flexed.

An unholy aberration wakes up with an angry roar,
And foul green birthing liquid spills onto the stony floor.
It bursts through doors and fragile walls, repelled by fire and light
Devouring dogs and squealing hogs, it limps into the night.

“It lives!” He cries, and raises to his lips a tepid flask
Of a strange concoction meant for quite another task.
On realizing his mistake, he gasps and grabs his throat,
Collapses to the ground as his whole face begins to bloat.

His arms extend, his teeth grow sharp, black fur sprouts everywhere,
His eyes take on a beastly and most terrifying glare.
Extra limbs and tentacles erupt from his hunched back
His helpless lab assistants are now but a tasty snack.

His stunning nubile daughter watches, truly horrified,
At what her dear dad has become, at how many have died
To satisfy his fevered mind, enact his twisted plans,
How in his wake he leaves a trail of poisoned, battered land.

She jumps from her high balcony down to an grassy slope
And flees pursuing foulness to her last faint ray of hope.
A sturdy square-jawed farm boy stands and maims the creature’s face,
As it retreats the girl faints into his surprised embrace.

Her fragile beauty stirs his heart, his duty to protect
All that is worthy in this world of honour and respect.
He lays her gently down and brings her water from a stream.
When she awakes and sees his face, she asks, “Is this a dream?”

“That creature here was real enough, you see the havoc wrought,
The fences smashed, cattle gouged, the marks of battle fought.
Others will arrive soon to destroy its threat for good;
Together we will hunt it down in that accursed wood.”

Continues in Part Two

Desert

 

O’er barren rocks and burning sand
We trek across this arid land
Our strength and hope begin to fade
Desperate for a piece of shade.

That cruel mirage that taunts our flesh,
Promising rest and water fresh.
Yet what is this? What have I seen?
Do my eyes lie? Is this a dream?

No, those are trees! Now we are saved,
For such mean so much more than shade!
Where there are trees, there waters flow
All manner of life can cling and grow.

Here cool relief and fragrant air
Are savoured with a grateful prayer.
Yet this is what we’re called to be
As planted by a living stream,

To bless our world, transform lost souls
Heal their wounds and make them whole.
Provide a place, where peace remains
Light is found and truth still reigns.

Despairing hearts see from afar
As if there guided by a star,
That here is love stronger than death,
A throng infused with holy breath.

Among us all they find the home
They have sought out as they did roam
We’ll point them to the One above
Source of all hope, true life, and love.

Inspired by Twenty-Nine

Apologies for the delay, I was struck down by a strong cold. This is another in my old series ‘Thoughts Inspired by Psalms’, but instead of merely quoting it, this time I have transformed its main points into verse:

Inspired by Twenty-Nine

Beyond the sight of every land, o’er ocean dark and deep
The fiercest storm in history extends its mighty sweep
Waves soar up to the very sky, winds roar and screech and tear
Crests into swarms of spray and foam, lightning sears the air. Continue reading