dream, hope, run

We do hope, my friend
Dream too
Lovely and romantic play
Everyday affection
My love, only you can excite
With handsome virtue
Find me now, love
Seek your bright heart
With eternal hope between us
Find our dawn
Run to tomorrow

no, fear

What love is worth throwing out the window?
What would someone trade to give away an honest love?
Is it in the pure acceptance and healthy gratitude
That they find the strength to leave?
Is it in the care and thoughtfulness
Wherein the fuel is found to run away so willingly?
Maybe it was in those loving eyes and happy arms—
Or the glad manner and truthful wishing?
Perhaps the will to leave was found in the promise
Of hope and wanting for security?
There must have been too much joy laced in every moment
Too much goodness and friendship and truth
Fear has no place, so we must make room.
Perplexed, I ask what kind of trade is fear?

Why be afraid of being wanted?
Why not look toward the sunrise with unfettered hope?
What would it hurt to let go of painful patterns?
Would it be terrible to let yourself be taken care of?
Would it be so bad to be glad in caring for another?
Wouldn't it be sweet to hold hands every day?
Maybe it would be okay to let the light in—
Let promises stick and someone stay.
Maybe happiness starts within each of us.
Maybe we have to want that something more
That keeps on coming at us in waves,
Offered with generosity as another chance
To let go of isolation, and hold onto love.
Maybe we need to finally say, Fear has no place here.

spring blessings

Blooming spring
Brings
Hope
Blue skies
Sing of
Good cheer
Sun warming
Hearts
Every day
With dancing
Butterflies
Hiding
Flying
Waiting for summer
To open doors
God's love
Shining
Between the cracks
Providing hope
Joy
Abounding
In thankfulness
For fragrant
Mornings
Burgeoning
With promise

look

Looking back
Looking ahead
Looking around
I see a blanket of love
I see balloons and sunshine and lamplight
I see tunnels and avalanches and darkest nights
I see music and mirrors and me
Making my way from before the beginning
And walking, continually walking slow yet steady
To where I belong
Searching for myself and my home
Writing myself into the story

Time and time again
Making sure the hero stays on her journey
Watching for the guides along the way
Loving friends and family and strangers
As they make their way into the story
For a moment or a lifetime
They help guide her home
With divine intuition
Divine guidance
Divine love
Come find me on this path
Let this hero walk alone no more

With tenderness and light steps
Kindness and care
Patience and prayer
Look for a way
To find your way
To conjoin two stories
And look no more away
From how aligned the stars remain
Look past the sky
Look toward heaven
For angels wait in the wings
To guide the way

magical

Wherever she goes, wherever she touches
Something about her changes the world
The ordinary and mundane become new and charming
Charming in the best way—not like dirtbags

Vivacious simplicity makes up her fairy dust
A fresh and resounding everyday magic
Created from pure determination and honest faith
Not to mention a healthy pinch of relatable tragedy

There's nothing so magical as something so real
Something you can feel and oftentimes see
Someone you can touch in actuality
There's nothing quite so magical as being beloved

Wherever you search, wherever you go
You'll never find another with her magical soul

this path

you led me here, my darling

gently

in hindsight I see you knew 

somehow

my heart couldn't 

hurry

even though I thought I was 

ready

because I heard your heart's

song

recognizing a precious

treasure 

a heart that matches 

mine

in highest quality and 

tenor 

walk with me on this path toward

forever

lead me onto our best

adventure 

tenacity

Walk through the cool blades of new grass
Take me along for the ride as we climb
I know the low valleys and high roads too
I know the middle where no one wants to stay
But take me with you if you'll at least try
To choose someone other than you
To love and care for and spend some time
Considering the beauty of walking beside
Someone who cares about someone—you

Run through fields of unrelenting joy
Join me as I wander through the sunlight
Of the sweet and tender care we give
Hold my hand in yours
As we find ourselves side-by-side
Cover my heart with yours
As we learn to listen to our rhythm
Care for me with just as much tenacity
As a seed in spring finding a way to breathe

flower beds

The details of everyday life
Family and school, balancing
Gospel learning and living
Work and writing
Listening and loving

Praying every day for light
To prevail
Make a difference
Teach us better and
Guide us to our heart's home

An everlasting spring day
To abide in as we reach
For one another
Amongst the heaven sent
Flower beds of lovingkindness

We keep trying today and tomorrow
Because love keeps us going
Trying
Living
Giving of ourselves

Sacrifice turns into daily care
In the form of affection and patience
Understanding and hope
Smiling at each other
Faith beaming from each countenance

unraveling

wound up tight
not letting in light
afraid
yet still blooming

reaching out
despite all the doubt
worried
while courageous

hope takes hold
in unraveling
this heart—
sweet abandon

gift of grace

I can hardly imagine life without the thought
That I can rise again
That I can see them again
That we will be together forever.

I recognize the beauty of the gift
That Jesus rose from the grave
That I can experience His grace
That we will be forgiven and eternally live.

I give thanks to God for this love
That I am able to feel so much
That I have enough to multiply and give
That others might feel the warmth of this faith.

The ultimate beauty of Christ's sacrifice and death
For me and for you he gave with his last and first breath.

walk with me

Take the first step
A kiss
Then another
Holding hands
And caring
Walking in front and in back
Taking turns
Along the brook
Wondering
Wandering
Welcoming
Entreating
Dearly beloved
Helping me get through life
In happier ways
Another step
Take it
Walk with me
Out of survival mode
Up the path
Past the hills
Toward the bright
Blue skies

promise the moon

As the glorious sun
Takes time to rest
As it sets, making room for the moon
To reflect

That lovely moon
Whispers of joy to us
Joy laid up
Waiting for the day

Filled with soft words of sweet
And happy hues
Traveling across the sky
From me to you and back again

Guiding light through darkest nights
Promises of dewy dawns and noonday suns

warrior queen

Abandoned on the highway side
Left to fend
With nowhere to go
But to bend

Bending to the weather
With none to tend
Hoping for rains to come—and go
With little to lend

Lending her heart from time to time
To strangers and to friends
With hope ever smiling
Like sun shining, making amends

A warrior queen all robed in white and light
Prepared for the future, effervescent and bright

saving windows

Where do the windows go when time has passed?
Windows that are made of glass
When did these people stop caring,
Leave looking out toward the sun smiling down?

What happens to the windows through which we gaze?
Windows need cleaning and care,
But if they break and they aren't replaced,
Not much but emptiness remains.

When do we lose sight of where things are heading?
Taking time to polish what we have and keep it gleaming
Keeps the view from clouding over and losing sight.
Storing up reserves staves off the wolves in winter's breakage.

Who decides? Who decides what will happen to these windows?
Everyone, individually and collectively,
It takes everyone cleaning and polishing and working to save.
It takes choices every day to keep our windows beaming.

careful

Awakened by the light of day, they found
A hope vibrating in their souls, unchained.
To be beloved to such degree resounds
With truth and joy and peace and dreams regained.

They sat with backs against the wall so long
As friends, though taste imagination now.
A try at finding home and to belong
Has opened up a world to which they bow.

Upon the table set is careful love
Enjoined, entwined, enjoyed, entered by day
Without the walls of castle fair above,
With silent joy and peace in fine array,

Sweet love, dear love, a precious love inlaid
On hearts that pray for safety in the shade.

a dream

To burn all my words
What a dream that would be
A dream and a tragedy

To love without fear
What a world that would be
A dream sans reality

To live in moments
What a life that would be
A dream that can be costly

To write honest love
What a treat that would be
A dream I taste while writing

To burn up this heart
What a shame that would be
A dream without clarity

To care, just care
What a simple thing that can be
A dream I want to achieve

anointing oil

I wonder where to turn for peace
When the waves keep crashing down
I turn to look toward heaven, and I see Him
Anointing my head with oil

Day to day, I find myself up and down
And up again
Surprisingly, the lows keep me trying as I see Him
Anointing my head with oil

Taking moments to breathe it all in to capture joy,
Then to let it flow despite the onslaught of trouble
Because He is always there, I see Him
Anointing my head with oil

Turning for peace toward the One who saves
As He daily anoints my head with oil

gifts

Gifts fly in on paper wings
Left on the shelf by someone acting like they don't care
Paper airplanes, notes, candy, always candy

They act one way but think another
You can never tell who admires you
Or secretly hates you

In middle school, actions speak differently than words
They don't even understand why they do some things
So you can't judge any books by their covers at this age

When those smiling girls end up detesting your very breath
And the boys who tell everyone how much they hate you
Actually are the ones who leave a trail

I watch for the gifts—small ones, almost imperceivable
To let me know when a teenage soul values me

shelter

The wind blew in today, like most days really, chilling and brisk
It pushed down freezing rain in blinding sheets
Sending the world with me in it scattering, clambering for shelter

I felt so cold from my toes to my nose
Standing alone for so long, I hardly even noticed
How harsh the weather was, how harsh the world had become

And then you were there, sheltering me as we stood
Holding onto one another with hearts in our hands
My face in your hands as I realized what a gift you are

Your presence made the storm seem like almost nothing
The wind still blew; the rain still was driven, but
Because you sheltered me without a second thought

Calm made a home within my heart
Quiet began to settle in within my chest
Gratitude made a mark I won't ever forget

Even if it's only for a day, my darling
You shelter me more than I could hope
And my heart is warmed by the fire of your soul

it yearns

You help me look toward the sun
Again, for me
Not in words so much but
In the way you envelope
My heart with so much love

You have become my friend and lover
Quietly, for me
The steadiness of your pace is
An open door encouraging
My heart to grow once more

You shine your light upon the earth
Again, for me
Even though you did not mean to
Or in the way you perceived
My heart would receive yours

You have changed my heart
Again,
And I cannot see in front of me
Again,
For my heart yearns for yours

room enough

They say
If you want something different
You need to create space for it
In your life

If it requires time
You need to set some aside
If it requires physical space
You need to clean out some rooms

If what you want
Requires time and space
You need to take a good look
At where you are and make room enough

Consider where you stand
And how you spend your day
Watch how the sun rises and sets
And where it takes you

Will you make room enough for what you need?
Ask yourself, then reach for every good thing.

embrace

Warm and surrounding
Arms entwined
Feelings traveling

Echoing their song
Between heartbeats
Breathing in

Every good thought
Creating space
Within hearts

Opening a door
The door
To more

While holding on
With sweetness
To now

perhaps

she said too much too many times
yet did she
they smiled too much too many times
yet did they

he cared for her too much too many times
yet did he
they shared so much so many times
or did they

she took it all to heart—or did she
perhaps she took it all too much to heart
and forgot how simple love can and ought to be
perhaps she needs to breathe, let love make a mark

perhaps it has been too long—so long that
she forgot what these darling butterflies do...

room to grow

Standing at the base
Looking heavenward
Imagining eternity

Faith overtakes my breath
Hope instead within my chest
Charity guiding my every step

Blue skies forever are what I see
Outside and inside
On the surface and within

Brick upon brick cemented together with light
The layers of my faith
Building something that holds weight

Windows to look through
Windows to reflect
Windows to see out and in and up

Shelter me from the storms that attempt to break
Help me find my way today that I may feel His joy
Ready me for forever that there will be room to grow

sweetness

Sweetness rests like dew on grass in morning upon her lips

Through thoughts and words and actions

Sweetness tastes like icing of a cake upon her lips

As she watches with wonder at how he cares so distinctly

Sweetness spreads like hope's wildfire upon her lips

With every smile rising with each tomorrow's sun

Sweetness stays like the gentle kiss of lovers' bliss upon her lips

As she writes of the kindness she found held brightly in his eyes