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