Good Shepherd

I am

The Good Shepherd

The flocks I lead

Are many

So many

I find them

Everywhere

No matter where or how

They are deemed

Flockworthy

They are mine

I claim them all

Street Strider

The Street Strider arrived

Exactly specified 

For my height

Assembled

Ready-to-go

Except

I cannot go 

Why do such things

Feel

Oh so familiar

One more stride

I cannot take

Derek Chauvin

I am thrown

Back into prayer

Back into the up-welling surge

Of sorrow

Of an overwhelmed state

Of unknowing the next steps

While knowing

What the next steps

Will be 

I am thrown

Back into prayer

And prayer

Again

Find Another Way

When the old ways

Don't work

Find another way

 

When the old paths

Go missing

Find another way

 

When best laid plans

Are no longer best laid

Find another way 

Sit and wait

Sit and wait

Sit and wait

Find another way

One Rung at a Time

I climb

One rung at a time

And only

When the ladder appears 

When my ankles allow

The step

Then

Only then

The next step

This is so slow

One rung at a time

And then only

When the ladder

Appears

 

One Red Tulip at a Time

The sun fills the sky

More and more

When I open my eyes

Walk around block

Take it in

One ray at a time

When I see the cardinal

One bird 

At a time

 

Everything is meant

To be savored

Individually

One red tulip

At a time

Hope Springs

Hope springs

With this season

Unlike last year

 

We pay attention

To the forsythia

Anew

Through freshly opened 

Eyes

Awake

To new possibilities

 

We remember

What has gone before

So much 

Has gone before

We do not forget

We must not forget

 

Still

Hope springs

With this season

The Red Bud Begins

The red bud begins

Its hither thither blossoms

I first discovered

It in college

Only to find the blossoms

Outside

The bedroom window here

Leaping forth

From even the trunk

No other tree

Does this

Like this

 

The crab apple in back

Blooms

In a much more organized way

Each blossom with the potential

Of an apple

 

 

 

The Girl Arrived

The girl arrived 

On the plane

Yesterday

She always comes

With new things

For us to do

Sometimes we say yes

Sometimes no

She is downtown

With the boy

Having lunch

We do not know

If she arrives

With a separate list

For him

Their relationship

Is their own

We will never know

The Seeds Arrived

The seeds arrived by mail

Yesterday

Wildflowers

Red clover

Clover balls to bury

With the yard cleared

By the lawn people

There is room 

To plant

On Easter

Even though 

We will not see growth

Immediately

Soon

Soon

Soon enough

Easter is a season long

 

Breathed His Last

Christmas

To Good Friday

He breathed His first breath

Then His last

Where have you been

In between 

In between the inhale

In the manger

The exhale

On the cross

Where have you been

In between

And now

Where are you now