Category: Poetry

Bind; Binding; Bound; Loosed

Published by mhelbert on November 5, 2019

Iron links entwined around our hands; our feet,
Like Marley’s Shackles Hobble.
Each loop forged and hammered with strength and skill.
Created for imprisoning; wielded with weapon’s wide arc.

Aren’t we all constrained by fetters of our own making?
Manacles strangle hands and feet to keep us in line,
Trudging step by step, in lock step.
Drum beating time so we don’t fall like so many dominoes.

“No, Children!
Look up!
Let Me Break These Chains That Bind!
Freedom for Freedom’s Sake, May You All Be Loosed!”

Chains Drop! Forged Links Loosed!
Gossamer threads appear and link our hands; our hearts.
Hold each in gentleness and care.
Love released to Wonder and Soar to the Heavens.

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A Prayer; A Lament

Published by mhelbert on November 4, 2019

Jesus?

Are You there?

Because it seems as though You’re not, sometimes.

Maybe, it’s because we don’t know where to look.
The stories tell us that You are a king, a Messiah.
They tell us about how the ancient Israelites looked to their God for a deliverer.
A king and savior who could rescue them from their enemies and establish them in the Land of Promise.

But, we are not ancient Israelites.
In fact, we have no real connection to that ancient hope.

So, we have created our own crises and our own oppression.
Then, we call on You to Deliver us; Redeem us; Save us.
We have created as many Christs as are necessary to make us feel loved; safe; accepted.

In doing that, we have created You in our image.
Like the song says, “You are our own personal Jesus.
Now, I command that You save ME!”
Because, after all is said and done, isn’t that what a savior is supposed to do?

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Starlight

Published by mhelbert on October 15, 2019

I, perhaps in my youth, you know,
Back when we all think that we have
All Knowledge.

Those days of untamed certainty
What do you know?
I, alone, sit atop the world’s wisdom!
I am all-knowing and infallible.

Yeah, back then.

Days when I would gaze at the heavens and
Fix my attention on the lights that so adorn,
So illuminate!

So, I compared you to that light.
“Behold, your countenance is like the starry sky
In all of it’s God Ordained Splendor!”

But, now I cannot look directly into the light
Emanating from you!
Aura?
No, that language languishes beside reality.

The stars, those angels of light placed far above…
Those great, furnaces burning trails of light through the Cosmos…

They must bow before the radiance cast from your visage.

Yes, You, are the source of warmth and light in my heart.

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Distracted

Published by mhelbert on October 11, 2019

Walking on a path through the woods,
Eyes focused on the trail of macadam
Before me. Mind fixed on the gold ring.
Butterfly! Eyes divert and feet follow.
Row upon row of towering pillars,
Deep into colonnade of Oak and Elm.
Where was I going?
Oh, Yes! Now, I remember.
The Path!
Trudge over rocks and fallen bole,
How far from grabbing the prize!
All for the fleeting beauty of a butterfly.

I wrote this little verse that pretty much describes my own life.
I am easily distracted from the path that I’m called to follow.
Something as lovely, yet fleeting, as a butterfly or a person or another project can so easily draw me away from that path. Until I look around and find that I’ve completely lost my way. Then comes the struggle to get back to that path. So much time. So much energy spent. And, for what? Chasing the uncatchable? What am I gonna do with a butterfly, anyway?

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Unknowing

Published by mhelbert on October 9, 2019

Part of me wishes that we had never met.
The rational “get your head in the real world” part.
That voice that speaks with a shaking head and wagging finger,
“I told you to mind your own business! This is a bad idea!”

But, of course I didn’t listen.
I never do.

They say that the heart wants what the heart wants.
(Whoever ‘They’ are.)

Now, I have seen fields of green grass speckled with
White and Purple flowers.
I’ve inhaled deeply of the fragrances that waft about after the morning dew
Has slaked the thirst of the plant spirits; Yarrow…Comfrey.

Sol, rising to His strength, warms me and illuminates my path.
Pollen, floating, infuses the air with the sweet taste of Honeysuckle.

Now, I Know things. Your face, your hair, the shape of your eyes,
Etched indelibly into the deep crevasses of my mind.
Written into the very fabric of my soul.

How, then, is it possible to Unknow?
Can I Unkown me?
Is it conceivable that I could Unknow love?

No.

Would that I had voice to sing you to the stars!
My tongue would form the words of praise to our Love
So that all in the Cosmos could see and hear
And Share, together with us, this Gift Given

Received in Love.

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Stardust

Published by mhelbert on October 3, 2019

Deep space
Two Bright Stars.
Gravity pulls inexorably
Paths converge.

Celestial Bodies Unite!
Crash! Merge! Fuse!
New elements
Created in Heat; Pressure.

LIGHT! ENERGY!
Bursting; Rushing
Outward toward oblivion.

Stardust
Shot thru Space.
Clustering; commingling
Creating!

Two figures;
Stardust figures
Hearts pull inexorably
Paths converge.

Terrestrial Bodies Unite!
Souls come together
Merge! Fuse!
Heat Created! Pressing Together!

NEW LIGHT! NEW ENERGY!
Bursting from Within;
Rushing
Outward toward Love.

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Starre Crost

Published by mhelbert on October 2, 2019

Which Stars in the Heavens are the ones who have Crossed us?
They set the boundaries of our hearts before we could even smile
at one another.

And, what a smile You have!

Your eyes glow from an unseen internal fire that blazes forth
Threatening to consume my heart.

Yet, it is not to be.
The Heavens have spoken,
“No love for You!” they say while rolling around laughing.
“How presumptuous of those mere mortals! They actually thought that their lives matter! Ha! We’ll show them that their loves are worth less than the stardust that created them.”

A Bard once wrote:
But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief
That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she.

Such love must be allowed to transcend th’ eternal dictates of the Heavens!

Mustn’t it?

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Awaken! Arise! Away!

Published by mhelbert on September 26, 2019

Awaken!

In silence Your I hear Your voice.

Words Silently Spoken quicken the Life Force of Spirit that dwells within.

Arise!

Shine from Eyes filled with Wonder; Power; Love!

How I long to feel Your Love coursing through my veins,

Entering every cell; altering the very DNA of my Heart of Hearts.

Away!

May we join with kindred Spirits and fly into the æther that exists

Within Us; Without Us

Let voice ring with Joy; Happiness; Love

For Your Legacy is found in such as These.

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Lightning Bugs

Published by mhelbert on September 24, 2019

When I was child I ran around the yard with my friends in the Summertime Evening.

We chased an elusive, yellow glow floating between heaven and earth.

Caught!

Opening my small-boy hand, I peer at the tiny creature walking along the Life Line of my palm.

Pulsating glow.

0ne-Two; On-Off.

Pulse of Life coursing through my veins.

One-Two; On-Off

“You wear your glow on the outside,” says I.

“Your is hidden within,” replies my glowing friend. “Let it out! Shine your Living Glow! Bring Happiness to the One to whom the Inner Beacon calls. Join the chorus of Joy and Praise as we All shine!

Let us, together, illumine the darkness.”

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