Clarke-1

Was it really just three years ago
When we had all been flung
Into a hallway together?
Overflowing nervous uncertainty
Testing these waters together?
I guess it was.

Two years ago we parted ways
Half in America, half in Rome
At least for one semester
Mealtimes were more lonely
But when you came back we found
That not that much had changed.

Last year we proved what we said
And I watched you all growing up
Taking on new responsibilities
Still ready to crowd together
Losing ourselves in laughter
Between the talk of life to come.

This year I’m the one leaving
And my heart protests at the thought
As autumn comes and I’m not there
So I look forward to returning too
You changed my life these past three years
And I do not regret it.

Blue

Sometimes life makes a crazy quilt look like nothing.
The pieces come together like patches I collected
And have thrown into the closet;
Although I still can’t see the pattern,
Is it enough to keep you warm and safe?

First come the pictures in a scrapbook
Your eyes as blue as its cover
Staring out at me.
That was years ago and we were children
And sometimes I wonder just what has changed.

Kickball down on a sunlit grassy field
Me all clumsy calling the wrong name
That’s all the beginning I remember
So I shake my head, trying to figure out
How on earth we got where we are now.

Then come cold days in shadowed pavilions
Scars all over your arms
Throwing grapes across a table, salt into a cup
Braided hair and sharpied nails
Myspace and praying that you would remember.

Piano chords play as I drift off to sleep
Like you fell asleep on my shoulder
Mountain dew and you all false tough bravado
Still a little boy wanting something safe
There in a church basement that fall.

Hay ride and wheelies and a black ball cap
And the last summer with leather and markers
Trust that was earned and bound us together
I remember the laughter and the grace
Spilling through the week of wild days.

I thought that was the end
When I went off to college
Until she showed up in my safe haven.
I’d know your eyes anywhere
And they both trusted me too.

Hey, child, I see you there
You’re still shivering in the cold
And won’t come into the warmth
So here’s to starting to talk again;
You are still my little brother after all.

I don’t know where this leads
I can’t pretend to guess
So I’ll let go of my fear and the fearful anger
Stretch out my hands to the light
And open my eyes to watch.

Irony

Funny the things we forget
Like what we talked about
And why it mattered so much.

Funny the things we remember
How we opened the window
And felt the warm spring air.

Funny the things that change our lives
A challenge no one else took seriously
A decision we never thought would matter.

Funny the things You take into account
How I know You work all things for good
And still find it so hard to trust.

The Conversation

Worn out eyes in a child’s body
Scarcely woman, mostly girl
She looked up at him as he walked past.
“That’s no place for you to go, sir.”

He stopped on the pavement in front of her
Silent and waiting for her to explain.

“That building has been condemned;
It’s where the homeless stay
Rooms filled with the users, the addicts
The killers and thieves on the run from the law.”

He smiled, face brighter light
Than the dying lamps on the street.

“You’ve forgotten to mention some, child,
The starving and dying
The whores and the drunks
They stay there too.”

She looked away.
“It’s no place for you, sir,
Go back to your home.
Leave us here alone.”

The song in his eyes
Split the darkness all through
Cracks in the night
For the stars to blaze bright.

“I came for those ones
To seek and to save
They’re mine as well.”
And he held out his hand.

She stared at this stranger
He’d turned it all upside down
Walking in here as if he owned the place
Who in their right mind would want it?

“Are you lying to me, sir?” she asked
“Leading me on?
Or are you a madman with nothing but dreams
Plans to rewrite this nightmare?”

His hand closed over hers
Strong and still gentle
“Or I am a truth-teller, daughter;
Will you believe me?”

His eyes caught her in a moment of eternity
And she found that she could not turn away
So she got to her feet and followed him
Out of dark streets into the dawn.

Jai Ho

Across the oceans is the end of the earth
The sharp edge that drops into insanity
Uncharted space that you seek to explore.
But what thread will mark your path home?

You chose a chain too fragile
Built of the links of all you had loved
It broke under the growing tension
And you fell into unending darkness.

The world mourned your loss
To the ancient dragons of the deep
Your body washed up on the sands of far shores
Lifeless and battered and bruised.

What voice called you back?
What strong rock broke your fall?
The dawn touched your face
With truth more terrible than lie.

A gasp of breath caught your lungs
Melted and reforged your heart
Restored your shattered mind
Binding you to the anchor of souls.

Somewhere between the words “Father forgive”
And the choked dying breath
Of the God-man’s hard path
He ransomed your life from the depths.

Heaven and earth are the Lord’s
And all the fullness thereof
He holds His creation in His hand
Ruling victorious all He has made.