Azure

Daddy, may I take a spoon
And dip it in your sky?
I want to know the taste of blue,
And I think your supply
Could surely not run dry!

Daddy, may I sprinkle it
In all the rooms I play?
I want cerulean fantasies
To flavor every day
And take my breath away!

Daddy, may I take a brush
To color days gone bad?
In stormy days, beneath the covers,
Are sapphires to be had?
And could they make me glad?

Daddy, may I take a swim
In the bluest of your seas?
I want to feel your loving touch
And taste infinity—
Oh, Daddy, may I, please?

Auto-da-fé

You seat yourself upon the throne,
Your own autocracy,
And damn your brothers, as if you
Are holding Hades’ keys!

The merest hint of heresy
And he is sent to trial;
You torment ’til he grovels
And judge him with a smile;

If he does not submit to you,
The king in you awakes—
You shame him with the laws you wrote
Then burn him at the stake!

Oh listen, king, before too late,
To innocent appeals,
For you usurp the throne of Christ,
And stand where you should kneel—

You judge as if for God—but look!—
He died for those you kill!—
I fear, if you don’t abdicate
You’ll taste the flames of hell!

For Viviana

On Tuesday I became a father to a beautiful little daughter. This one was written for her...

For Viviana

Like violets growing unobserved,
A love for you grows out of sight—
Until it bursts in brilliant bloom
When the time is due,
When all is right.

The amethysts once smuggled in
Now conquer me with shameless ease—
Unveiled, my heart is swept away;
This is meant to be,
This masterpiece.

Just days ago, I did not know you,
Now you’re a queen who I adore—
You wear your purple like a princess;
I clearly see
I’ll love you, Vivi,
Forevermore…

Ripple Effect

A soul dips out of sight
Like a pebble in the lake,
But we still see the ripples
Who waltz within the wake;

The ripples laugh, and run,
And skip from heart to heart;
The love she left behind
Now echoes very far!

Burning Strength

What is strength that burns for self,
Squandered on the worst desires?
’Tis but toxic fumes that kill,
Burning like a house on fire—

House to house, it wreaks its havoc,
Maiming all conflicting lives,
Growing like a monster’s hunger,
No one in its path survives…

What is strength that burns for love,
Given to the best of dreams?
’Tis a sun that shines on others,
Sharing mercy’s brightest beams—

House to house, it spreads its beauty
Warming all connected lives,
Reaching like a gentle hand,
Everyone it touches thrives…

Heaven's Physics

It takes a mathematician
Who knows infinity
To peek into the outer rings
And guess at what will be;

And there are theologians
Who theorize the end,
But mysteries are plentiful
Which they can’t comprehend—

A scientist can calculate
Dimensions mind can’t grasp,
But Heaven’s rules of physics
Is something he can’t clasp!

It takes a child to understand
The truths the best don’t have:
That everything in Heaven is
Revolving around love.

Brick by Brick

I don't have any answers to the divisions in the Church. All I have to offer is my love...

Brick by Brick

I cannot build the bonds—
A brick can’t build a house—
I cannot bridge the canyons
A million miles across!

I offer all I have,
My love, and all of me,
And brick by brick by brick
We’ll build a family.

Flickering

A lonely heart is like a torch
That glimmers in the night,
Peering through the turbid fog
For another flame that bears her light;

But what that heart can’t see
Is that his luminosity,
Despite his flickering with doubt,
Has carried hope to downcast eyes.

Haggling

I barter prices like a merchant,
As if my haggling will bring them down;
But he, the vendor, smiles just so,
And shakes his head without a sound.

I see now - love is like a pearl
I give my life to buy;
And then it lives within my heart
Beyond the reach of miser’s eyes—

But why pay for such a treasure
Which I will never hold?
Ah! – “This pearl will light your heart,” says he –
Instead of wearing chains of gold!

To sacrifice myself for love
Will free my heart to fly;
It hurts to satisfy the cost
But ’tis a prize which I must buy!

Boxed In

A short little poem about not putting God in a box...

Boxed In

To fold up angels
And put them in a box
Would be like capturing the sun
To put it under lock!

The legal titles
We place upon our will
Do not go far in taming God
When He is on the bill—

Judicial edicts
Don’t reach the heart—
Why don’t we play upon the grass
And leave the court?

Bending

I wrote this poem as an imagery-rich picture of how deep God's love is - so deep the human heart can hardly contain it!

Bending

What if I should take a star
And place it in my pocket?
Or if I should steal the sun
And plug it in a socket?

Was the heart designed to bend
That love could fit its boundaries?
Was the soul made tough enough
To be the site of foundries?

Hearts respond in colored echoes
To words our Father’s spoken—
In the burning of its beauty,
I bend, but I’m not broken!