Self Pity
June 4, 2011 Leave a comment
I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself.
D.H. Lawrence
Earthquake Day
April 24, 2011 Leave a comment
Earthquake Day
Tremor was always, before ex Nihilo showed up out of nowhere.
Tremor was there when man finally noticed Big Bang and all of
the little Bangs including mathematics, quantum mechanics, knot theory, string theory, radio pulsars, genetics, music, phi, art and poetry.
Tremor was in the apple bite’s rude awakening.
Tremor showed red when murderous Cain fled.
Tremor, as Plumber, called Noah and told him to ship out. Later, when things were settled, Tremor threw a palette of watercolors at the sky indicating a watershed moment.
Tremor used a slingshot against incredible bull’s-eyes.
Tremor gave the startled stars something to blink about.
Tremor was magnified in the womb of Mary, there was room for Him there.
Tremor sat in the temple teaching Rabbis everything a Father has said before.
Tremor whipped up a tempest, the Sea of Galilee provided support.
Tremor caused a stir at the local water fountain by saying, “I am He who is to come.”
Tremor gave the blind a new outlook and the lame a leg to stand on.
Tremor received a farewell gift of pure nard and a woman’s tears.
Tremor stood at the death’s door and said “Lazarus, come out.”
Tremor did an exposé on white-washed tombs.
Tremor broke the loaves, divided the fishes, according to old math.
Tremor broke the bread, drank the cup of sorrows and poured itself out.
Tremor was nailed down, pierced, forsaken and crushed. Violent insurrectionists like me were set free.
Tremor tore a curtain from top to bottom under orders from the Weaver.
Tremor woke up those staying in catacombs.
Tremor angels shook the rug under a rocky patch of earth, happy to find nothing there.
Seismic joy and fear were recorded that day.
Tremor decided to walk through walls and then tell everyone not to be afraid.
Tremor walked out to sea and back again for a fresh fish lunch with his friends.
Tremor had to move on but did send Another Tremor for everyone who loved Tremor.
Tremor will one day separate the wheat from the chaff and the sheep from the goats. Tremor will make the lion and the lamb see eye to eye. Hold on, Tremor is beginning again.
© Sally Paradise, 2011, All Rights Reserved
Endnotes
February 20, 2011 Leave a comment
Time has a caption
Written in stone:
“In Loving Memory;”
“Here Lies So & So.”
Neglect of the spirit,
The body, the soul,
Will banish the goodness
Tarnish the whole.
So, reflect on the Passion –
Christ’s death on a cross,
Repent and return,
He looks for the lost.
Eternity’s caption:
“Forever With Him,”
Means I choose daily
To live without sin.
© Sally Paradise, 2011, All Rights Reserved
*****************
Better yet…
THOU hast made me, and shall Thy work decay?
Repair me now, for now mine end doth haste;
I run to death, and Death meets me as fast,
And all my pleasures are like yesterday.
I dare not move my dim eyes any way;
Despair behind, and Death before doth cast
Such terror, and my feeble flesh doth waste
By sin in it, which it towards hell doth weigh.
Only Thou art above, and when towards Thee
By Thy leave I can look, I rise again;
But our old subtle foe so tempteth me,
That not one hour myself I can sustain.
Thy grace may wing me to prevent his art
And thou like adamant draw mine iron heart
John Donne, The Holy Sonnets I.
I Miss My Children (Life in an Old Shoebox)
January 3, 2011 Leave a comment
I miss my children –
The very life of them –
The up and down of seesaw,
And, the back and forth again.
I miss my children –
The laughter and the tear,
The playful and the pouting,
How I wish they all were here.
I miss my children –
The reason and the rhyme,
The rattled day’s disharmony
That never falls in line.
I miss my children:
“She had so many memories she did not know what to do.”
I miss my children and
I wish they missed me, too.
© Sally Paradise, 2010, All Rights Reserved
Langston Hughes – Being Old
September 9, 2010 Leave a comment
Being Old
It’s because you are young–
You do not understand.
But we are old
As the jungle trees
That bloomed forever,
Old as the forgotten rivers
That flowed into the earth.
Surely we know what you do not know;
Joy of living,
Uselessness of things.
You are too young to understand yet.
Build another skyscraper
Touching the stars.
We sit with our backs against the tree
And watch skyscrapers tumble
And stars forget.
Solomon built a temple
And it must have fallen down.
It isn’t here now.
We know some things, being old,
You do not understand.
Langston Hughes
Cindy Wity 