38

Thirty-eight. It's as good a time to start
As any other time, I do suppose.
But what I'd like to tell you from my heart
Is this: What goes in as easily goes
Out. So why even bother to begin
If what you want is to hold on to all
You can? It's better for you to depend
Upon nothing but change. For when the roll
Is called Up Yonder, there won't be a thing
You'll be able to take, just what you leave
Behind: A good name for your kids to wear,
A steady faith to help them to prepare
For life's storms and for lies that will deceive
Them as they search naively for meaning.

E=MCC

Accelerate this dormant mass of light
Unlocking all the energy inside.
As neurochemical equations fight
Between the synapses of my brain, intentions hide
The things I do from what I show to you.
The work that's done is never done at all,
But pops! in each our mitts as we both throw
From side to side like a tight-stitched baseball.
What's inside all this isness? Equals equals
That, and this leaves no room for what it is
Without comparison--just intention
That moves all energy through creation.
Instead, rest we in abject holy bliss,
Act we not, but Him whose hand all holds.

Crowning Glory

If I could turn the clock back 30 years,

And see not greying beard nor wrinkled eyes

Reflected back at me through mirrored glass,

But keep intact my weathered intellect

To guide me through the turbulence of youth:

"Put hands to work at dawn and sleep at dusk,

"Select your friends with care, and at all cost

"Do not surrender your integrity,"

I'd tell myself. But never has one had

An opportunity to change his fate,

Nor child missed the warnings of the wise

Who through all ages speak admonishment.

Make room, grey beards, I'll join you on the bench,

And take my turn at speaking to the deaf.

Quittance

I thought that just a little later on
I'd fix the things that were not right today.
When all the dust had settled down upon
The fury of the moment, I'd allay
My petty occupations and begin
To concentrate upon what mattered most:
Bad habits rectified, and carnal sins
Surrendered, at long last, to Holy Ghost.
But later on became, at last, today,
And was no different from the past I'd spent.
Diurnal deeds upon me did surmount,
Making all my tomorrows yesterdays.
I learned too late, much to my soul's lament,
One only has today to take account.