Tag: poetry
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Here I AM
I AM who lives and breathes in soil,you teach us to let up our toilof trying to prove our worthlike anything could separate usfrom the heartbeat of this earth. Help us understandhelp us knowhow our bodies are interwoven with this whole.Help us take off these sandalsexpose our solesto the pure dust and dirtyou encompass and…
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Down in the River to Pray
God of liberation,who chooses the onesfrom the most oppressed nations,you call us to look foryour saving gracein the shadow places of your world: in Hebrew mid-wives,a Levite woman,and the daughter of a Pharaoh;in refugeeswho traversed the wild seasor the single mother of three the people we do not see. Shake us awaketo your saving gracestill…
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Walking on Water
The One who calls us to actionand contemplation,you call us to return to the mountainto memorize meditation,pronounce presenceto unknow the knowablein silent places:in the corners hidden in timeand minutes hidden in spaces. Give us will and a wayto meander this mountainthough the waves ragethe winds roarand the unknownis the only thing that is sureso we…
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God of the Darkness
God of the Darknesswho comes to uswhen the sun has setthe night has comeand the shadows of the world and our souls become one. You come to usin the wrestle of lifein the fight for a blessinggiving us a new namefrom the struggles we have enduredfrom the moment we were birthed. So let us, in…
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The Way
What ifthe waythe truththe lifewas not some threadbare pathinvisible to the naked eyesomewhere far awayand up highsomething you have to work foror something you have to buy? What if the way was where you already arewaiting to be exploredwaiting for you to take off your loadto bare, instead, a yoke so easy so lightlike a…
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Becoming
I wonder what it would be like to move slowly in this worldto be a snail and find home in memy curvesmy shellthe delicacy of my flesh.To leave an imprint of myselfas I travel subtlysmoothlysimplyon the sun-beaten cement. To find places of solace on a stonebetween slivers and grooves of a cedarlearning to staybeing grateful…
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A New Name
I’m done with ‘God’, ‘Jesus’, ‘Christ’, ‘Lord’, ‘King’, ‘Father’.Can’t take it any longer. I’m letting all of you goso you might relax, too, and be freed from constantly being a show. Now what if I called you ‘flow’‘The tingling’‘The gut’‘The sensation’‘The pull’?What if I called you ‘compassion’ and ‘acceptance’?What if I called you ‘My seeing’‘My hearing’‘The…
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in something small
Salvation is not triumphant.Sometimes it is as subtle as the cleaners,the cooksand the kind people who take away our garbage. Sometimes it is as silent as a good night’s sleep,the gardener down the street,the podiatrist who cleans all kinds of feet. Sometimes it is as still as a windless day,a rock buried within clay,having nothing…
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Just one leper
Turn back.Remember your skinso soft and serenewas made cleanwhen you had faith that you were seenbeheld, beloved and believed in. Turn backRemember your heartwas made to sing like a larkto prostrate your lifeand all your deepest longingsin a lullabyfrom your lungs to where you lie. Turn backRemember your souland its songs of thanksgivingso sweet and…
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A Triumphal Ecstasy
Take off your cloaklay it downon this groundamidst the silent slumber of rocks all aroundcolour threaded into colourweaving warmth and wonder togetherso that sun might kiss your skinso that you might begin againto singto vibrate withinawakeningthe sleeping rocks to joyous clamoringof ecstasy and complete surrenderto beauty and even terror.
by Rev Alisha 