Relationship – A Thread You Follow

Promises

We hold fast to our human traditions
as if abandoning the commandments of God
is as easy as celebrating the victors 
of the latest super game given to us
by the powers-that-be crafting our lives.

Fascination will return.  The health of the family
will become a concern.  Unannounced visits
to those caught in the process of being made well
will once again unfold between neighbors.

And promises to serve each other tomorrow
will be kept even in the midst of fear and sadness.

Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. – Matthew 4:22

Holy One of the generations,
one following another
following another,
how many times must we leave each other
to follow the wrong star home
hoping it will lead us to the divine jackpot?
Call us back into ourselves
and away from all that seeks to separate
us from one to another and another;
and there, following your will,
find everything greater than
what we have always been looking for.
Amen.

Porch Swing

She made new green coverings 
for the swing that seats two
which I hung on the front porch.
Undisturbed peace wraps around us
as now we move gently back and forth
looking forward to the coffee
silently brewing in the kitchen.
A neighbor passes.  Greetings exchange
with greetings.  Morning smiles appear.
Neither my beloved nor I wander 
into abstract ideals in our conversation.
Rather we create devotion by pointing
to the sunlight dancing around the leaves.
Let civilization plod its own path.
In this moment of today there is no time
for dancing along the fine line
of challenge and comfort.  And visions can
wait to develop.   There is no immediacy
to share in a world where certainty
needs each movement swinging between
now and forever.

The One Question

I remember summer days 
when birds crowded the feeder 
and more walked below 
pecking at fallen seeds.
Somewhere a preacher asks 
of those listening with ears to hear
to draw the meaning of scripture 
out of the mythical realm 
and into daily experience.
Do the birds hear the same words?
The secret given to us at dawn,
does it still remain quiet and secure
after we have given it away so many times?
Though the words of the questions
remain the same, they can be rearranged
in infinite ways to provide the answer
to the one question always being asked:
Will the birds feed today?

Next to One Another

The vanishing disquiet of my heart
reminds me of the sacraments I missed
long ago; replaced with sacred moments
different from the last.  Others may look
upon how I search for the symbolic and say,
"It just didn't work well," but we never came
to any agreement on anything where protecting
our own wishes, desires and dreams mattered.
How can you tell if people are not interested?
How many bad looks does it take before
the fascination of slowly coming together
becomes, and even overcomes, anything
folded into two parts laying next to one another?

Again

Come, let us make futures for one another.
Without our knowing
the snow will turn to rain again
And back to snow again.

If all we know of delight
comes from our wishing for
what we deserve or even desire
then being in the presence of the one that loves
will be more than enough again.

Imagine being the only guest for one another
after meeting for the first time
and then to meet again
in some present future where
the rain turns to snow and back again.

A Love Letter

I said, "I have decided to give my life
the title 'Extreme Experiments.'"

She said, "Funny, I don't consider
myself extreme or experimental."

I said, "But you have given me
the possibility to recognize
a grander perspective."

She smiled.  "Two people.  Peculiar
lives.  Some shared space and time
spent in each other's arms makes
all the difference."

I smiled, too.  "I had no idea this
conversation was going to turn
into a love letter."

She said, "As one brilliant mind wrote,
'We complex people cannot retreat
to blockish simplicities.'"

“For it is…here a little, there a little…” – Isaiah 28:10

God of bits and pieces,
God of the whole,
who allows the length
of time to pass unabated;
gather up the remnants
leftover from forgotten meals;
mend the fragments
fallen from our hands;
unite the untidy
workings of our minds;
for we are caught up 
in the little we have here
and in the little we have there.
Amen.

Seeing each other for the first time:

An incredible encounter of tingling minds,
inspiring both to move beyond flirtatious
eye-play to a deep place of wanting to know
and to be known.

Distance and separation between events
during this time drive despair of not being
physically close away as fear of severing
any relationship dissipates.

Initiative to share the same experience rests
on the intensity of always returning together
again from being lost to the other as great
events happen during evenings.

Perfect Edge

Knifing my way around
the edge of the sqaure
pan of brownies, I say,
"Everyone wants the middle piece."

She says, "I am not a middler,"
while grabbing two inches of crisp edge.

I grab one whole side of edge,
"A perfect relationship is found
in sharing."

She smiles, "We both love the edge."

I say, "And eat the middle
if there is room."

She declares, "There is always
room in the middle between us."