The Judge

I thought to sit here

Throned in wisdom,

Clever, sage,

Wise as the hills.

Then why, instead,

Are my hands trembling?

What on this earth so shakes my will?

This man before me,

You discern,

Deserves the full extent 

Of law.

His crimes are cruel,

His face is guilty.

Then why does the gavel not fall?

I thought to pronounce

Judgment on

The bad, the wicked;

Sinful plans.

Then why, my conscience, do I find

That here before me stands a man?

Know

I know not much,

But this I know-

That You will never let me go.

Your love unbounded

Bids fears unfounded

Flee like darkness from the sun.

My ransom this-

Your only life,

Full of my own pain and strife.

You give to me

Life not due me.

Peace beyond all earthly stills.

My journey goes

I know not where,

But I know you will take me there.

Each mountain pass

We'll cross at last-

My eyes are fixed upon the Son.

Glass

I dream dreams

Of pale blue lilacs

No

Halt!

That's wrong- I don't.

What is a lilac?

If I admit it- I'm an imposter

A fraud in a shell of an oyster

I'm no pearl, really

I just wanted to play in the Lady's feathers

And now I've ruined it, 

I'm sorry.

I don't really know what I am

I just wanted to be-

Beautiful-

To stand in the lights and let the

smoke cover my flaws

To carve out a name among the

Trophies and Legends so I

don't ever have to wonder 

If I really matter-

I'm sorry I broke your vase,

I honestly thought I had the right;

Not to break it, but to go inside

I thought if I tried on the diamonds

Maybe the glamour would

Materialize

I would faint, now, if I could.

But I can't, so I'll go

Roll my hair and wonder

Why I'm not quite there yet,

Always moving on.

I wonder why there's an inside

if nobody ever gets there-

We just all stand on the lawn 

With our flip flops and beach chairs

And wonder why everyone else

Is looking at us funny?

The Vase

I threw a vase at the wall.

Expecting it to shatter, of course,

Meaning for my rage to be felt

In a thousand pieces.

But it fell like a valise-

Full, heavy

Solid, into the carpet,

Leaving only a dull thud.

Frost

On Thanksgiving Day

I stood on a sea of glass,

Feet suspended above a carpet of earth.

Every newly-frosted spike and blade

Stood ready at attention,

Bristling in the shrill morning breeze,

Eager to prove their valor.

I bent to examine a specimen of the tide,

Newly-baptized by these newborn waves,

And found it was a leaf-

Brown and withered from the cold,

Yet laced with crystals, shimmering in the morning sun.

Though cast-off from its former perch,

Among the branches of some tree,

It now sat clothed in robes that rivaled the fairest jewels of the fairest lady.

Thus nature clothes the small,

I puzzled,

While men adorn the great.

The frozen sea at my feet began to stir, 

Hastened to speed onward by the morning sun.

Each stalk began to crackle-

And the music of water began to flow free-

Until each blade burst forth from its jeweled case and stood brave and tall,

Shoots of green in the newly-christened earth.