Summer

Now the sun each dawn is shining
Earth with heav'n in joy aligning
Fear and doubt to hell consigning
Light and shade and dew entwining,
All creation sings!

Fiery sun at noon is blazing;
Heat strikes down, our senses dazing.
Couched in sun, the cows lie gazing.
Bright the stream its pebbles glazing;
Damsel flies flip wings.

Eventide is filled with day light.
Grasses, slivered, shine with spray-light.
Tiny clouds like foam are gay-white.
Gently comes the star-flung twilight
Sweetly bells may ring.

Summer's blessings rain like showers
Days that, golden, stretch their hours;
New-born life can bloom like flowers,
Fledgling birds can try their powers,
Thankful praises sing!

The poet's art

Take a stone

And given the choice, pick one any one

It's opal every time

Found buried without its sparkle

Subterranean Cinders

Pre-transformation scene

Hone it, this stone

Patience and TLC

Craftsman's skill in lieu of magic wand

But same gasp!

See the rainbow

Catch kingfisher caught fire, blue

Blood orange, turquoise

Released in laser light show

Personally I think

I'll never grow immune

Always the heart-lift

A perfect poem

A little low heaven

Beauty held within

Sally, 27.6.2010, Hounoux

Pentecost rap

When the Holy Spirit came
our heads lit up with holy flame.
We overflowed with praise and joy;
the people who heard all said - oh boy!

Come Holy Spirit we welcome you!
Come Holy Spirit we welcome you!

How do they know just what to say
in languages that come from far away?
Three thousand were baptised that day
When the Holy Spirit came to stay.

Come Holy Spirit we welcome you!
Come Holy Spirit we welcome you.

We travelled round the world and taught
the great Good News that Jesus brought.
That's what the Church will always do,
So let's rejoice that God loves you!

Come Holy Spirit we welcome you!
Come Holy Spirit we welcome you!

Tabitha

We almost know her, don't we?

The lady of means, widowed,

giving her time to works of charity.

So skilled she is,

her hands provide good garments,

well made and durable,

respectful and respectable.

We can almost see her, too.

The noble brow,

the firm-lipped mouth,

the greying hair held neatly back,

the movements quite quick still,

getting on with life,

putting widowhood somewhere apart,

in the silence of the heart,

where pain must dwell,

but not be dwelt upon.

We can almost hear her too.

Practical, factual, kind;

a voice of cadences

that speak of kindnesses

and a most of all a heart aware.

Then one day she's not there.

The gap -

the silence -

the unmet need -

they must have been unbearable,

the unfilled space an aching void.

Tradition carries one,

one knows just what to do,

the helpful ritual.

Some comfort then

to wash the waxen limbs,

to comb the springy hair,

to clothe with fragrance

that which shortly starts to rot.

Some comfort, yes,

but not a lot.

So who first whispered,

who first dared to hope,

and what was said,

to birth their daring plan

to call upon the fisherman,

he of healing touch,

of whom they'd heard so much,

and what exactly did they hope?

Did they think, did they even know

that anything was possible,

and any hope permissible,

the walls of death now passable -

oh yes!

I think they did.

Hearing a new story in the old one.

I listened again today

as I'd listened inside me all week

at what God had to say

through the lesson that's set for today.

It's the moment unspeakable

unrepeatable

when first the risen Christ appears

and you imagine it was you

that saw him through your tears.

You imagine it was you

that simply wasn't there,

and tried hard not to care

through not believing,

but who, believing, worshipped.

All this I thought upon,

in a well-worn groove.

But this time I heard too

the alternative to Pentecost,

the simple breath,

the plain command, receive,

and that confident word,

"If you forgive..."

Notes on the nature of time

Time flies by when you're having fun
so easy lost so rarely won
Time drags when you are bored
What a waste of a valuable hoard


Youth passes by so quickly
While the lingerers grow old and sickly
Wait a minute turns to several hours
your valuable time this wait devours


There is nowhere to hide from time
It has no reason nor a rhyme
So enjoy your time, have a ball
because in the end time fooled us all


by dan green

My dear

I will fight not for queen nor country dear
I will fight not for my beliefs
I will fight only for you my dear,
as I go off to war

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On scarred and blackened battlefield,
I fight not for my life
I fight not for my comrades
For you my dear, I fight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I take this bullet for you my dear.
I fought for your defense.
I fought for you alone my dear
now I bid farewell.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I die not for queen or country dear,
I die not for my beliefs.
I die only for you my dear,
when I went off to war.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

by dan green 2010