Elegy to 2020

Days lingered around
Gathered friends, family, rivals,
In groups, maybe thousands
Enjoying sport, music, spectacle,
Ceremony, exposition, oratory,
No worries, shared delight.
How we celebrated things
That brought us peace, smiles,
Companionship, competition,
We were golden, glitter bright
Stars feeling our fortune, filling
Time with all the joy we might.
But
Sometimes our privilege dies
A sudden horrible death
Which consequence we fail
To see in its full gory detail
Until it wraps itself around
Us, a constriction unwilling
To allow us any escape,
Nor let us go, it binds like
A straightjacket, unwanted.
Our homes, always sanctuaries,
Begin that slow movement
Toward a joint solitary confinement
Where nerves are nettled, become
Frayed, days without normal
Occupation become a distance
Difficult to travel hours through.
Now,
For ever-how long, it appears
The culture of the modern world
Has died an ungentle death
Beaten into submission by a virus,
Even more by fear, horror, panic
Of what might happen should
We linger together in the open
In shared embraces and friendly
Touches that communicate more
Than words, our empathy, and care.
Make no mistake, love is not mocked,
It will return us to ourselves for
Through everything it always
Finds a way, I believe love exists
To be our guide when things go gray.

This is not meant to be dire. The prompt on Poetic Asides today is Elegy, and I think the world will be different when it resumes business as usual.

I hope all of you are doing well and enjoying your weekend. I have been forced to stay off my feet quite a lot today because of my left foot, but I am trying to be up a bit.

As a prompt, explore your vision of what will occur when all the confinements are ended. Create something that expresses your vision.

Prayer Magic

As with God’s great love
We often live with magic
Sometimes like, equal,
The times we tell things, “Stay there,”
Or ask a door, “Please, stay closed,”
Or say a quick prayer over lost items,
That we find and praise the Lord.
We depend on God’s largesse
For moments of everyday blessing
Or taken another way His magic.

When love enters the plane
Of the mundane is a blessed magical
Occurrence that enraptures existence
Two opposite beings, often strangers,
Find commonalities that fuse them
In an alchemical combination
That ties disparate ingredients into
Agents who are loathe to part,
Only God could orchestrate all
The events and coincidences involved
With the magic that happens
At the perfect setting in time,
Magic, quite simply Love Divine.

So when our heads rattle
As if empty and our words
Become rare, let us not despair,
Think of how God is able
To provide every gift we need,
More generously and abundantly
Than we could ever request,
And pray the words appear,
No surprise, God hears.

The prompt for the Poem A Day Challenge Coundown on Poetic Asides today is “Magic.” This may be my final entry today. Four poems might be enough.

I hope all are well and healthy. May those sojourning at home during this hiatus in the world be gifted with prodigious creativity and a feeling of peace that embraces all their lives.

Perceive

Turn yourself around
Look to see,
Not what you want,
Recognize
The depths of reality.
The picture
Is clear if your heart
Is engaged,
But it is much simpler
To only observe
The surface.
Vision lighted by love
Is seldom
Encouraged by those
Who maintain powers
Over bulk humanity.
By grouping lots
Together
The individual is masked,
Hidden behind layers
Too numerous to comprehend.
Persons alone
Dealt disadvantageous
Circumstance, pain,
May be maladapted
To herd mentality.
Every heart beating
Real,
Soul aching to be filled
Has ability, creativity,
Beauty enough
To withstand trouble,
Triumph and overcome.
Look to see
Inside the spirit
That infuses life
With all the joy
One chooses
To partake,
We are beloved,
Let us celebrate.

This poem was written during the morning’s wee hours. The one previously posted was written in daylight. My schedule encompasses much of the night. The fact I sleep so little is a bit of a bother.

Borrowed Agency

My friends are precious,
Lifelines who anchor my soul
When storms crowd me in,
They are a great abundance
Of sweet peace borrowed from God.

No accident they
People my existence here,
They are Heaven sent
Provided for my troubles
To usher in blessed good.

They hold me by heart
Banishing the loneliness
Which wants destruction,
Gifting solace they rally
The Spirit, LOVE, within me.

Though some desert me,
There is a growing circle
Of care arising,
Fortresses of gentleness
Who dispense a constant peace.

The prompt for Prompted Positive Poetry is “Peace.”

Pathway

I know of the world –
Once there was a way through it
I took without care,
But some people stood opposed
To blazing a path of love.

Their arguments were
Convincing enough to remove
My purpose from me,
But only temporarily –
I awoke and recovered.

My voice was not loud,
But passion fed my practice –
I would not give up;
Others joined me on the way
Trying to rescue our planet.

Calling everyone
To love themselves and others
To submit to God
Through Jesus, many people
Needing Christ’s redemptive love.

Poetry gives voice to life
Renewed, freed, revived with love,
Salvation’s testimony.

I wrote this before going to sleep for a little while. The pain I am experiencing seems to be zapping my strength. I do not have Coronavirus, but I am not in the most excellent health. It does not matter, I survive, and during struggle thrive.