Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Pax Vobiscum

Ahhh! Sunset on the water...

I pray that we save
The flag of the brave
Over the waves.

Of the sun that shines,
Yours and mine,
Over The Spirit's line.


We're all the same,
Whatever god we claim;
Divinity has no name.

Day is done;
Gone the sun;
Peace has begun.

Amen.

 

Life and Strife

Recently, a friend said to me that he is at the point in his life
That he wants his conversations with the like-minded and his wife.
I presume that this is to avoid too much emotional strife.

He used to be a warrior, afraid to approach and fight nothing;
He's now an old, tired lion, with the limits that this brings.
But his passion for justice in our nation still seems to sing.

He shared with me his concerns about the path of society;
His problem is the pace of the changes, it seems to me.
I was honored to hear his stories of his part in our history.

His wife continues to work as a visiting medical hero;
Their military daughter, our country's compassion shows.
I felt, in their peaceful presence, my soul begin again to grow.

I then visited a couple who continue in the old ways;
On the land of their ancestors, they continue to stay.
For more of this salt of the earth, I will always pray.

They tilled the fields and milked the cows for many years;
They also had to bring in cash for the bills that would appear.
She tended home; he worked away. He's now, at home, content to stay.

This is domestic partnering in the best and greatest sense;
There are no gender roles or posturing and pretense.
This seems, to me, to be that for which marriage was meant.

I have had much exposure to those who lead by example
The joy of their lives is great; with pain, their hearts  have also been full.
The blessings to me, in their sharing, has been more than ample.

I've thought many times that my love and I had arrived
At a place where we and our loved ones would always thrive,
But change seems to be the point of some of our being alive.

I am so sorry to my friends and various relations
That we seem to constantly abandoning our life's stations.
Perhaps adaptation to crisis is our assigned obligation.

Have they ever considered that we, too, would like to relax
And have a time when our values weren't attacked?
But societal changes continue to challenge the facts.

Societies look for differences instead of areas of agreement.
Is this, for what, our considerable brains were meant?
And, if so, why were the prophets and Jesus sent?

I am continually tired of hearing so much dissonance
That it's hard for me, of our supposed values, to make sense.
But I cannot go back to our agreement in values pretense.


I don't know how to be myself without causing strife.
My greatest fear at this age and station in my life
Is that my beloved will finally reject me as his wife.