Saturday, August 29, 2009

Jar of clay

 


This jar of clay is giving way.
The glaze is gone, its edges worn.
Hairline cracks leave winding tracks
that weren't there when it was born.
All 'round its base the wrinkles chase,
where once was surface smooth and gloss.
Now many a chip on the old jar's lip,
the question: is it gain or loss?
Is passing time really such a crime
if we're destined to be made anew?
Or must this life cease to bring sweet release
and let pure crystal waters flow through.
Whether loss or gain, old age is a pain,
though there's comfort we can take:
life's grief scratches deep, then a restful sleep,
sweet escape from the jar when we 'wake.
-HJ Aug 29, 2009
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Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Just So


Stand in a pool
that is oh so cool
on an overworked hot hot day.
Lean your head back,
let your body go slack
and your limp limbs float away.
Beneath the cool flow
let all troubles go
and heal your soul's disarray.
Just so: long motorcycle ride,
Or a book long denied,
Or an hour alone, to pray.

"Oh God, save me from myself, save me from myself...this masterful self which manipulates your creation...this self which throws the thick shadow of its own purposes and desires in every direction in which I try to look, so that I cannot see what it is that you, my Lord and God, are showing to me. Teach me to stand out of my own light, and let your daylight shine." -Austin Farrer, quoted in Absolute Truths by Susan Howatch

Tuesday, August 25, 2009


Heaven goes by grace. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in. -Mark Twain

Saturday, August 22, 2009

 



Worry is an open wound
in the stomach-pit of your mind.
The ache may ease momentarily
but is never far behind.
You poke it and prod it
in morbid distress,
and when partly healed
pick scabs and bleed fresh.
Ignore the pain and continue your work
but suddenly stand glazed of eye
and frozen in panic as you see
parades of possible horrors pass by.
Tomorrow the wound may be healed and forgotten
and calmer days will follow,
but maybe the worst that you feared will come true
and leave your life empty and hollow.

HJ Aug 22/09
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Sunday, August 16, 2009

 


BE STILL
"You have striven so hard, and so long, to compel life. Can't you now slowly change, and let life drift into you? Surely it is an even greater mystery and preoccupation even than willing, to let the invisible life steal into you and slowly possess you". - D H Lawrence, in a letter to a friend
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