making a difference

what difference can be made
with just one man
just a couple of round
uncalloused hands
a belly pressed hard
on a plain buttoned shirt
a coffee stained tie
and a body from dirt

what difference
would one man have made
if indulgence had died
but duty had stayed
with this tender family
to tend through the grind
serving dinner at six
and tucked in at nine

what kind of difference
can one man make
its not very clear
but I know the stakes
my hands will be here
taking good care
that bellies are filled
with the supper we share

for the waiting

the pain, the hope,
they blend into one
the ageless question
on all of our tongues

how long, how long
o lord, how long

the couch is slouching
even rest is a pain
the day is for working
the night is the same
the table is tilted
bread slides to one side
some get their dinner
but half are denied
this structure is crumbling
foundation and frame
the house has fallen
and each brick is to blame
how long, how long
good lord, not long

your love will brighten
our humbled sun
and light will cover
the darkness done
your justice will free
the waters dammed
and your righteous flood
will quench our lands
your peace, the trees
how high they will rise
we'll sit without fear
under these very skies
how long, how long
good lord, not long

a truly foreign policy

"peace through strength"
says the grand ol' gipper
shalom showered down
to the very last whimper
love doesn't let
evil empires endure
no, compassion must choose
even the harshest of cures

but what is peace if not a refusal to kill
and what is love if not surrendering one's will

my commander in peace
says bring healing to the land
for strength isn't something
wielded with hands
he says its farming a field
and not turning around
it is planting a seed
with our knees in the ground

'cause what is peace if not followed to the cross
and what is love if not a life that is lost

god will fight for me

is confidence the thing
that all boys need
as my girlfriend's mother
suggested to me
"know you're a catch
and close those jealous eyes"
as her daughter moved on
to better looking guys

is confidence a posture
feet planted proudly
like the man in the photo
that was mailed to instruct me
with words penned coldly
at the bottom of the letter
"no... but one day maybe
if you stand up better"

is confidence that word
on my job application
that translates my worth
into monetary compensation
but holds little interest
with its plain punctuation
"sorry... we gave it to the guy
with more exclamations"

the best in me
is nothing but vanity
the worst in me
becomes my identity
the best in me
will always get the best of me
the worst in me
will always crush the rest of me

confidence is a coal on fire
touched to a self undone
burning away the assurance
that empty words had spun
now made clean from this holy scene
and freed from false securities
I look down at my feet and finally see
that "here am i, send me"

confidence is my stillness
in a battle to be fought
ordered not to lift a weapon
cause the glory goes to God
now the horses draw nearer
but I let my eyes simply close
and though I feel the coming army
I set my sword at my toes

our minds make paths into mazes

with mesmerized minds
on symmetrical eyes and stars aligned
we'll inevitably find love's signs
to be curved lines and slow shallow sighs

with mindless meditations
on scripted souls and sexy situations
romance rests on the written manipulations
of broken boys' and girls' imaginations

with long, fascinated gazes
at fashionably framed lays and faces
our minds make the paths into mazes
and though we walk together...

...we end in separate places

eschatology

safely they stand
in line for the rapture
in distant lands
these goats eat green pastures
unhelpful hooves
held in holy postures
no preying wolves
they killed all those monsters

counting their cash
in lines at the markets
so bare souls pass
from their well-dressed carcass
widows still thirst
and the poor have no smiles
such wealth is cursed
by the neglected child

stupid they stand
'cause no one is leaving
they will be damned
for their greedy feasting
the least made first
the wicked start running
its to this earth
the just judge is coming

the brassy blast
raised lambs begin to cheer:
fullness at last
come from heaven to here
eternal roots
nourishing perfection
like christ's first fruits
we have resurrection