Live Soft

When you've
Been hurt

Repeatedly

And impossibly

It's hard

To trust
Again

Hard to

Live soft

Unprotected

In this world

Hard to

Live soft

But please

Don't change
Who you are
 
Please still live soft
Please still live vulnerable
Please still live open

This hard world

Needs the gift
Of your softness

A rare gift

Borne of strength
Given to few

Not Scared

I know
That this
Is scary

I know

You are
Afraid

I know

How much
This hurts

And what

I can tell you
Is this

I am here

I am not leaving

I am not scared

And I will walk

Beside you
Through this

Until we find

Both the peace
That has left
And the hope
That has hidden

I will walk

Step by step
Alongside you
 
Until we find
The way
Back home

Things Gone Well

What brings
My heart
To tears
Today

Is different

Than what
You’d think

It’s not

Another
Disappointment

Not

Another
Unbearable
Pain

It’s simply

The shock 
Of things
Gone well

After a long time

Of things
Gone wrong

Hope Fire

Some mornings
I wake up
Feeling exposed
For all
That I'm not

Feeling small
In this big world

Aware that

My efforts
To ease
Life’s pain
Are hardly enough
Given what’s before me

Feeling foolish

For trying
To keep my hope fire
Alive

And when

Mornings like this
Come

I offer still

My hardly enough efforts
And smoldering hope fire
To the world

Because really

What more
Can I do

Heart Full

Heart full
And still
This day

Taking in
The life
Before me

Grateful

 

Fire

I have stood
Face to face
Against fire
 
Nearly suffocated
In its
Hot blast

Held my ground

Though it tried to
Push me back

And that fire

Seared my body
But couldn’t
Burn up
My soul

I stood

Face to face
Against fire

And in the end

It was the fire
That backed down

First Hand Experience

I used to
Seek God
Second hand

Through

Structured studies
And weekly lectures
And widely accepted
Interpretations

And then

I would try
To make
What I had learned
Fit the circumstances
Of my life

And to be honest

It was
A forced fit
That never
Quite worked

Today

I don’t try
So hard

Today
I live
Immersed in
The circumstances
Of my life
And the lives
Of those
I love

And here

God is revealed
 
Clear as day
 
Everywhere

In everyone
And everything
I encounter
 
I find God now
First hand

In the lives

Of fellow travelers

In souls
Dancing free

In the sound

Of spring evenings
 
In the faces
Of my sisters

In every breathe

In the deep
Sweet peace
That is mine
 
Second hand theories
Beautifully replaced
With first hand
Experience
 
A gift
I wish
For us all

Too Short

I ate
A cookie
For breakfast
Today

Not the healthiest

Of choices
I know
For a girl
With already
Too tight
Pants

But today

I was reminded
How fleeting
Life can be

Today I chose indulgence

Today I chose the cookie

Because today
Again I realized
That life
Is much
Too short