Images of Life

Ambivalent Birth

Born into this earthly mire.
Conceived by love or by desire?
To what heights do we aspire?
Or what great evils do we conspire?

Death’s shadow lurks even at birth’s dawn.
Good and evil our hearts do spawn.
And how are the boundaries drawn?
And how quickly is our life gone?

The newborn baby is both welcome and scorned.
Some are born to beholden parents; others to be forlorn.
By love and hate is one's heart torn
Such is reason enough to mourn.

Yet by God's infinite grace,
Christ was born to the human race:
To save us from our own disgrace.
That brings us hope we can embrace.

That's Life

“That’s Life.” They say
Whatever comes by night or day.
The Adage: "What ever will be will be?"
Sounds like a cop out to me.

“That’s Life” oft is heard
Regarding both the wise and the absurd.
Oh, our time has both bliss and strife.
So what is it that we call LIFE?

Is Life a God that controls us?
Or is it a thing we discuss?
Can it think, dream, or love?
Is is a curse or gift from above?

Is it Fate, or just dumb Luck?
So, why do we so swiftly pass the buck?
Is it a belief or paradigm?
No, life is just time, fleeting time.

Life is useless until we act.
It’s meaning we through deeds extract.
"That's life?" Is just an excuse.
God gave us life to live as we choose.

So, when life is full of upheaval,
Note: WE, not life, spread either good or evil.
To spend the time of life in happenstance,
Is to waste the gift and blame circumstance.


A Sprig of Hope,
So we can cope.

Hope is the power that makes us soar.
With it we always achieve more.

Without hope the soul dies.
Even though one is physically alive.

The hopeless heart can never see.
The beauty of life that brings us glee.

One without hope is powerless
For hope sustains the spirit.

We can place hope in anything
Yet only Jesus will true hope bring.

And even when Death takes us from Earth.
Our hope in Christ will give us new birth.

For a few,
Life Anew.

Christ calls all
Into His banquet hall.
Our sins He will abate
And in His love we can celebrate.

Those who chose God' s gift are chosen.
The hearts of those who reject God are frozen.
There are millions of excuses for our sins.
But only Christ can do them in.

Yes, there is hope and absolute truth
That the evil ones of the world refute.
Because of arrogance we fell
Christ died to save us all from hell.

By God's graciousness is mercy offered
To all people across the Earth.
Yet many with deaf ears are scoffers.
As for me, I choose God's mirth.

The second Section of this book consists of poems that I wrote at different times in my life and each is relative to a specific experience of my life. The first poem is just an observation of natural world and the human tendency to impose human order over the natural world. I had created a double exposure and wrote the poem to go with the picture. I wrote the second poem after spending hours trying to photograph a hummingbird. The photograph I used to illustrate the poem was not the clearest one but I thought it was the most interesting image “its appearance was like a tiny angel”.

The next series of poems are about love and marriage. The first, was about my love of a woman that could not be. The second poem is a story about my second marriage. It was also about God’s love of people even those who don’t return His love. The third poem was written to my second wife four years after the marriage ended yet my love continues. The forth poem was about my niece’s wedding. I celebrated with them, had hope of their having a good life together, but I also had my doubts  because I have seen many marriages fail including my own. I rejoice now for they are still married, and I pray that will always be so.

Then I move to poems about broken relationships and people unable to have healthy relationships. The first of this series is one I wrote it after a long-time friend decided to abandon our friendship. The second is about a woman who isolates herself and rarely leaves the confines of her house. The last is about addicts who trust the wrong people and shut out those who can help them out of their self-made prisons.

Next, I shifted from the emotional to the contemplative. Yet, the first poem, “Voices Calling" is more emotional than the other two. It expresses the travail emerging from the division of our psyches and an alternative to that endless turmoil. The second poem, S.I.N. (Self Indulgent Nature), is a poetic summary of my ideas regarding sin and its affects. The third addresses the ambivalence that is everywhere. These examine the devastation of S.I.N. and the ambivalent existence in the world.

The last poems reveal our struggles with imperfection and need for our perfect Creator—Christ. The “Prayer in Verse reflects my struggles to be as God wants me. “My Beau Ideal”, expresses my amazement that God is loving even though I don’t it. “My 30th Spiritual birthday” expresses my continuing struggle to overcome my self indulgence by letting the Holy Spirit transform me.

“Light breaks Darkness” questions what society tells us we should do and be and the arrogance of thinking man has all the answers.

My last poem speculates what God might be saying to us about his love, our disbelief of His truth.

I tried relating that hope is ever present, we can get right with God who is with us always. He gives grace and mercy to all.