*
23 POEMS OF BELIEVING
-saiom shriver-
**
ARK OF THE COVENANT
*
The eternal truth
of the Covenant's Ark
... and of the promise
of God's rainbow arc
is that all beings
are always
within God's Ark
Human eyes
.. transmit lies
.. for they fracture
the oneness
into little bits
and cannot see
the higher
frequencies
.. that as bodies
leave
amd many believe
.. others with
certainty know
*
BELLIES OF OCTOPI
*
"My ashes shall occupy
the bellies of octopi.
My aging brings
senility
and its even
more evil
twin sterility.
Declines my body's
utility.
All is futility"
did I moan to my teacher
who to my mind's
intuition replied
"It is a lie from hell
to think yourself
the body's shell"
"Do not cling
to the petals of spring
for that retards
the ripening fruit"
"Each day all spirits
uncover more of
their infinite
love, power, beauty,
peace, miraclemaking."
*
WINDSTAR
*
Whenever winds howled
and whirled
and around homes
curled
he knew that beyond
them shone
the unchanging
evening star
*
FAITH SPRING
*
Faith did upward
from the heartrocks
spring..
and run through ryefields
into rivers of knowing
which
did merge in
the sea's community..
before upward assumed
by God Sun into unity
*
GODORIENTED
*
The God oriented scientist
prays and is given
a revelation..
by the GOD who made all bodies and knows
how they work..
one need not bulldoze the forest
to research the life of a tree
nor torture animals to
find the secrets of GOD
*
(Albert Einstein: I was given the theory of a relativity in a dream... paraphrased from
his autobiography)
*
PIGEON RELIGION
*
The atheist pigeon
faced with rivers Stygian
abruptly saw the light
..suddenly found religion..
and when he came back
from the abyss
began to tell others
of his supernal vision.
(thank you to Tom Lehrer for rhyming pigeon and
religion.. in his satire on govt. cruelty to
animals)
*
EASTER BASKET
*
If it harms none
and in prayer you ask it
God has it for you
in your Easter basket.
And as time and tide
flow on
one sees that
his own heart
is the Easter basket.
*
TABLE TURNING IN THE TEMPLES
*
He overturned
with divine temper
the tables
of the
dovekillers
in the temple
and sheepbutchers
and even now
the killers of
the Dove of Peace
the butchers of God's
animals
need to be removed
from modern temples
*
BLUEPRINTS AND FIGS
*
When the Spirit
conceives blueprints
.. these seeddreams
become trees of quince
And imagination's figments
by sun are woven
into figs
*
FROM MORNRISE TO MOONRISE
*
From mornrise
to moonrise
.. all is contained
.. in God's eyes
*
UNWAVERING WAVES FOR PETER
*
The first time Peter walked upon the water
he sank
because his faith wavered in the waves.
But later his faith become
unwavering
and as Peter became a rock for Christ
.. the sea became for Peter a rock.
One is nonChristian firewalker
another a Christian waterwalker..
both believe
*
KNITTING CLOUDS BRAIDING GOALS
*
He is not nonexistent, nor sleeping
nor cruel, powerless nor on vacation,
things of which he is accused,
the Sun, with His warming SoulFire.
It is we who knit clouds
of false ambition,
We braid clouds of mean
revenge..
We weave sunblocking
clouds of immature desire.
*
PINNIPED
*
More angels dance on
the head of a pinniped
than on the shiny
surface of a pinhead
*
FLY RIGHTS
*
We're more likely to
to fly right
when honoring
animal bird and fly rights
*
THEY BELIEVE IN YOU
*
The photographer
snapped
of the picture straight ahead
so that
one could not see
the sky
but the clouds
reflected in lake water
Those who were not able
to believe in a God
they could not see
were drawn to God
by your love.
*
DOES THE SUN DIP INTO THE SEA?
*
The sun does not bathe in the sea
nor rise in the air..
nor is God confined by our
limited perceptions.
*
THE LIGHT PRESUMES A SOURCE
OF LIGHT
*
James Michael Pratt wrote
of those who see the light
but do not know the lighthouse
keeper. Just so, the lives of
many are saved by anonymous
angels they know not.
*
BELIEVING
*
Yesterday's sudden frost
.. yet please do believe
spring is coming
and with it new leaves
*
THE SEED CONCEIVES
*
In doubt's earth,
rain and the seed
do life conceive
Slowly does faith
unfurl her leaves
and then come branches:
she does now fully believe
and then without a doubt
she knows
that all to God go
who do in release
their bodies leave
*
ADVOCATE
*
If I could represent to my
mind another's opposite
point of view as if I
were an attorney without
emotional involvement,
I would pass a test.
*
FAITH MOVES MOUNTAINS
*
Faith moves mountains
Truth soars over them
at the speed of light.
*
THE GIFT OF BELIEF
*
Lasting as long
as the dewdrop in
the dawn sun or
the snowflake in
the spring stream
was his belief...
so brief..
until he witnessed
how God uncurls
the limehued leaf
*
DOES ICE HATE GOD
*
To ice it may seem
that God does scheme
to destroy his form
in the stream
melting him into water
and then to dawnmist steam.
But he changes his mind
as he sparkles in sunbeams
and begins to merge
with the Supreme.
*
Note: apologies to atheists
and agnostics for
the assertion
-saiom shriver-
ADVOCATE
ARK OF THE COVENANT
BELLIES OF OCTOPI
BELIEVING
BLUEPRINTS AND FIGS
DOES ICE HATE GOD
DOES THE SUN DIP INTO THE SEA
EASTER BASKET
FAITH MOVES MOUNTAINS
FAITH SPRING
FLY RIGHTS
FROM MOONRISE TO MOONRISE
GIFT OF BELIEF
GODORIENTED SCIENTIST
KNITTING CLOUDS BRAIDING GOALS
LIGHT PRESUMES A SOURCE OF LIGHT
PIGEON RELIGION
PINNIPED
THE SEED CONCEIVES
TABLE TURNING IN THE TEMPLES
THEY BELIEVE IN YOU
UNWAVERING WAVES FOR PETER
WINDSTAR
23
Sunday morning Gospel
At a southern Baptist church
Praising with the choir
Listening to the Word of God
Where grudges are forgiven
And friendships re-united
We sinners find forgiveness,
Family, and a home
But here I sit
Alone at home
I couldn't be roused
To my own Father's house
I can hear the church bells in the distance
Calling white-washed tombs to repentance
Calling broken souls to be renewed
Calling crushed hopes to stand firm
Yet, here I sit
Looking out the window alone
Listening to their tolling
Refusing to be more
Than an armchair theologian
If my “deeds” are just words
Then they are not worth talking of
If I didn't speak to my Father today
Then why do I expect answers
If we are “the Body”
Why are we so apathetic
So CONSUMED by our own lives
That our faith wastes away
And as these thoughts come to me
I make myself more comfortable
Still refusing to be any more
Then an armchair theologian.
I.
Winter breathes coldly
A rose on new-fallen snow
Beauty in nature
White carpet without
Inside, the dog sleeps soundly
Dreaming of Spring days
Rain upon the window
Soothing, sweetly singing soft
As I write about it
II.
Family stay near
Life's storms draw close together
What calm drives apart
Special together
As I concentrate on work
She watches TV
Fearing the future
She wraps her arms around me
And holds me tightly
III.
Alluring water-front
Holding magnificent crafts
Warships now at peace
Men of foul language
Cargo brought ashore today
The smell of the sea
Moonlight on the waves
Horns of vessels passing by
A lonely gull cries
....
Heated tongues had no temperance to spare
Betrayal is a fickle master cloaked in innocence
Eyes held truths with no regards to context
Illusions were never more real than when piercing
The heart left to bleed pounding desperately on the floor
Under the foot of merciless pain
How do you explain the inexplicable?
Some things just end while others start
The resoning was perfectly logical
But damned if anyone could see it
Because faith seemed a too bigger thing
To hold through this broken prism
Off they went onto seperate trajectories
Only to find the truth revealed in years of wastedness
It was only when they travelled around it in oposite motions
They could see they belonged together
Far too late, as other sattlites they collected were now in the way
And faith seemed once again bigger to hope for
And not a thing was learnt.
....
Heated tongues had no temperance to spare
Betrayal is a fickle master cloaked in innocence
Eyes held truths with no regards to context
Illusions were never more real that when piercing
The heart left to bleed poundind desperately on tge floor
Under the foot of merciless pain
How do you explain the inexplicable?
Some things just end while others start
The resoning was perfectly logical
But damned if anyone could see it
Off they went onto seperate trjectories
Only to find tge truth revealed in 20 years of wastedness
Because faith seemed a too bigger thing
To hold through this broken prism
It was only when they travelled around it in oposite motions
They could see they belong together
Far too late as other sattlites were in the way
And faith seemed once again bigger to hope for
And not a thing was learnt.
many people today seem so very out of reach
these are desolate times yet we settle for ill faded rhymes
casualties are enormous for a stated cause that's atrocious
a mothers cry as the door bell rings
vanishing salute to freedom as the church choir sings
let's look above to the heavenly love
merciful one come take this chip off my shoulder
stop the senseless fighting as our nation grows a bit colder
Tomorrow let's pray for better days
instead of people getting caught in a purple haze
eyes, face & hands
when will we ever live to understand
you can't stand in line while kicking it to the man
how you have fought so hard & fierce
my truest love is gone from here
a challenge to be free is a question of time
Tomorrow people will achieve if one can perceive
it's more then a philosophical rant
one must succumb to the business at hand
hopefully someday all will understand
for love is the true essence of one's inner existence
a beacon of light to a hurting world in need of hope
hope that can evoke feelings of positivity
in a land so full of their negativity
But Jesus had much more pain than I ever will;
His suffering was the way he chose my sins to kill
He died of lack of blood and lack of enough air
Into his lungs, and to me it seems unfair,
To die for my sins on his cross up there
It wasn't the nails that held Christ to the cross;
It was his love for us that put him at a loss;
For air to breathe and blood to flow
And in the end, for his life to go
My pain has purpose when I unite my pain,
With Christ's pain on the cross which was for my gain;
Gain of forgiveness of my sins on my soul
And for other's sins, too, to make us all whole
So I'll offer up my pain for others, and not complain
For my suffering may help them repent and not sin again
Suffering is a part of life, I know, and I say
The first step is Jesus as he points the way
It is by his example that we should live each day
He died on the cross so that we can try harder,
To learn of God's wisdom and to love one another
We next must believe with all of our heart,
In God's ultimate goal and our important part
He loves each one of us for what the bible says is true,
But to love and believe in yourself is entirely up to you
As our love grows for what life has to bestow
It should become quite evident what God wants us to know
That the glory of loving others and caring for our fellow man
Is to love almighty God and to carry out his supreme plan
These steps are all necessary for a life ever after
So keep them in mind as you begin your next chapter
We all will falter on our way to the top,
But it's so very important to keep loving and to never stop.
What art thou then ? I cannot guess;
But though I seem in star and flower
To feel thee some diffusive power,
I do not therefore love thee less;
My love involves the love before;
My love is vast in passion now
Through mixed with God and nature thou,
I seem to love thee more and more
Far off thou art, but ever nigh;
I have thee still, and I rejoice;
I prosper, circled with thy voice;
I shall not lose thee although I die