Praise

More stars

more light

more and more love

abounds

abundant

abiding

Phil. 1: 9-11

Compassion

These open hands
hold
the prayers
that are the completion
of the good work
of grace
Open 
to receive
Open
to release
Open
to redress

Phil. 1: 6-8

Pray

For sun

for play

for joy

for home

Thank you

thank you

thank you

Phil 1: 3-5

Strength

His grace

of water and sky

will

strengthen your hearts

increase

and overflow

like a river

released

from

winter’s

waiting

1 Thess. 3: 9-13

Promise

Day is coming

the promise of light

is given

as unstinting as

grace

or the green

that will enfold

these branches

again

Jeremiah 33: 14-16

Sky

Lift up your head

see blue

behind the gray

the color of waiting

the color of between

Luke 21: 25-28

Another poem about grief

Photo by Richard Hamlow, circa 2010

Is this phantom

pain

in my head

where your memories stopped?

in my heart

torn from its moorings

and reinserted

crushed

and stuttering?

or is it

in some

as yet undiscovered organ

that orients

my existence

in relation

to every dear one’s breath

wrenched

from its roots

and continuing to bleed out

in hiding?