In the Baptism, For Kim

the prayer: Quickened once, this seed uncrucified reclaims Against the dessication of faith in my drought And root dry tortures of decomposing doubt, Against it all, a sudden impulse in the kernel flames Thanks to my Divine Intervener, sweet love undying Shattered falls the broken web to free my wings The lung tarring vice, defeated, can no more clings I joy in this, from doom and death returning Sprout me again, breathe in me new a new day fresh Water me with prayers of thanksgiving still, sun Me fruit joy and grain, bless me where my Jordans run; Unyielding Christ, out of thy grace, I rise to love afresh. the testimony: And I through travail of night to birth again Carried you slumberless into faith of day And I torn and shredded by sin's foul pain From prayer to prayer wept against decay Those years, distant, dark, void and cold Those fears when death yawned wide iron jaws And you my lamb staggered from the fold O how I raged at life, and veiled despotic laws That broke us into splinters with our dreams I did not see today to sing again, doubts tears Blinded me, heaven seemed silent to my screams But today, you give me back my hope of years. And I was not there to hold your hand, absent From the cuddling moment my love had planned And yet, devised by faith, I stood full present For I am the jar of clay in the Master's kind hand And you my child suffered it all, to bring me Back from a superficial walk with love, and we O let us rinse the skies with praise, let us Walk, nobler creatures called from a common dust. celebration: Give me space to seal a kiss upon an embrace To pour my joy before your pleasant face Give me space to thunder with belief and stay Exiled in ignorance, and clothed in wisdom when I pray.