The mythic gods are capricious
They stalk and torment mortal men
Demanding gifts and offerings
In exchange for what they promise.
But the true God is a giver
Showering men with gifts galore.
First, he puts breath in their nostrils
Then provides them with daily bread.
He’s the one who gives them knowledge
and the skill to earn a living.
Strength to labor, health to enjoy
all the pleasure that life affords.
When the farmer sows his plowed fields
God is the one who sends the rain
and the sun that makes crops ripen
yielding bounties for our bellies.
God makes the wombs of women fertile
so they can conceive and give birth
to the beings that replenish,
the human race, on planet earth.
When you enjoy nature’s beauty,
Just remember, God created
all the wonders that you behold
Are a gift from God, your maker.
After mankind disobeyed him
bringing sin and death on humans
God sent his Son down to this earth
to give his life to ransom us.
There is no God like the true God
who gave his life for his servants.
God the giver, bid you follow,
give him your being in return.
Some folks call her Mother Nature
As they revel in her beauty
Contemplation of her bounties
fuels the maternal mantra.
How could nature be our mother
When we share a common father?
For the One who gave her substance
is the One who gave us being.
We may call her our sister
and adore her stunning beauty
But to call her our mother
is to slight our common father.
When we ignore our Creator
We will choose for Him a proxy
be it nature or another
Man will worship God or Other.
Nature cannot be our mother,
for she did not create humans.
God placed humans over nature
Our servant, she is meant to be.
If you’re looking for your mother
Look up to God, your Creator
For He gave your sister substance
and He bore you for His glory.
squirrels’ rewards, gifts
harvests of autumn, blessings
gathering bounties
coolness of dawn breathes courage
leaves wash the mountains in hope
'Bitter beggar woman'- that's your version of who I am?
I who nurture your children a decade, almost a score
Contorting my body to an unwanted twenty pounds more,
Cursing my fate for the diligent years of labour.
Looking back now with nothing left to savour
While you hang out with the guys, recreating your youth
While you salivate over the neighbour
in her long-legged stiletto shoes,
While you ‘make love' to me --
infrequently and out of duty --
am I not entitled to an ounce of your charity?
If I am a bitter beggar woman,
have you not seen me beg for your time?
I have no pension or bounties for my golden years;
All I have are my still-fresh tears.
I beg to be free
But freedom isn't even mine.
I am married- a curse I must bear
Like a crown of thorns on my head, my fate I wear.
There is no place left to hide.
I must embrace the void.
Boredom shapes the gambler’s curse—
a chafing itch burrows the skin,
and promises of bounties full
draws loss and piteous hunger in.
It wagers not on sense but need,
all wisdom choked at galloping speed-
that trades frail patience in a pulse,
mistaking want for feckless greed.
Tidal leaps the wave, a beast enraged
the shifting boards ,a sweep of losses tilt-
that stilts no longer shudderproof engaged
foundations fall and nothing left but guilt.
Warmth spreads like sunshine on frosted stone,
wanes within the unsolicited kindness seeds sown.
Wounds sewed with strings torn from fabric of care,
carrying quiet scars unsaught empathy bounties bear.
Oh what a day!
an ocean sky and rays bright enough to probe a grateful mind
a beautified path laid before me to distract from what haunts behind
a bounty of abundance in every direction, still the air is freshest north
the birds sing for me and the trees dance with every step forth
liberation rests in my feet and stagnation fears me
my future is promised colourful, even beyond what I can see
Oh what a beautiful night!
the moon welcomes me home with such harmonious light
reminding me that beauty has no preference
reflecting on the bounties from the day
strengthening my soul from leading astray
love has sewn itself into my hide
the rays gifted to my mind brighten my vision
a reminder that life must be conquered without intercession
a life unenjoyed is like a starved appetite
a bird whose wings refuse to take flight
let us remain in the intoxicating stupor of internal delight
A miracle defies the laws
designed by Him who nature caused.
So only One who can create
can cause His laws to deviate.
The God who spoke and it was done
is He who lived as God’s own Son.
Choosing to dwell in human form
The Divine and Human biform.
So, turning water into wine
was play for Him, who made the vine.
When he upon, the water walked,
the natural law, He simply blocked.
Multiplying five loaves of bread
with which He then, five thousand fed,
was just the common stock in trade
for Him who nature’s bounties made.
And when He made the blind to see
The lame to walk and leap with glee
He made the laws of nature yield
to Him who awesome power wield.
He, even from death, many raised
evoking from men, highest praise.
The works He did proved He was God
In human flesh but yet unflawed.
love, a luminous infinite energy
Omnipotent it encompasses all
rainbows in sky, full therapy
Universal reverenced arching
Consummates Creation’s call
love, a luminous infinite energy
Eternal enduring marching
God’s cosmic coloured fall
rainbows in sky, full therapy
Relentless, bounties boundless art
Liberates equates huge or small
love, a luminous infinite energy
Pains or rains blessings into Heart
Arrives in doses or floods, enthrall
rainbows in sky, full therapy
Dark-Light it weaves, recall your part
Tender and fierce, raw emotions sprawl
Love, a luminous infinite energy
rainbows in sky, full therapy
~~~~~~~~~~~
Loitering around at the expense
of my parents back,
I too wish to be at the resemblance
of hardworking thumbs,
those same fingers that sewed
the futile grounds back home,
my mother’s yuca farm,
my father's dying crops,
dance taking their final
waltz with the tumble-
weeds in direction
where my ancestors
sleep while their bones
continue
to prosper,
their voices evoke
within the breeze
that had asked
for generational appeal
to the heavens that took
their last breath,
“My body crisp
at the sight of the sun,
my mind wavers as my heart
knows endless
bounties of weeds,
twisting,
turning,
suffocating,
all of life beneath
our breaths,
Yet The Night is upon us,
offering eternal rest as
mercy has finally reached
it's limits, a new vision
begins alongside
the Golden
thread of Youth,
a soul that marked
a beginning and now
an end.”
All that's left withered
away as each ancestor
departs,
my parents left their grounds,
the vibrancy of life dried
up leaving no generations
behind,
My Youth became
their bodies and my life
framed forever in each
era of my ancestors.
I once had a special place by the sea;
A quiet get away where I loved to be;
My favorite place for God and me.
A solemn place, most Devine
And serene, free of people for a season.
The only sounds I heard were occasional fog horns,
the roaring of the sea, and the still small voice of God.
It was delightful living 4 blocks from the sea.
Now I reside 2000 miles from that beloved sea.
At some point in their lives, like me, I wish
that everyone had a place by the sea; a place
where the sea gulls flock by the sea cliffs,
Where the bounties of nature come together.
Those big cargo ships from far eastern
Shores slowly flowing under the Golden
Gate Bridge was always a sight to see.
I sure do miss my special place by the sea.
To sunshine and its blushing dawn
and brilliant sunsets we are drawn
which over plains and mountains glow.
How sweet God’s blessings that we know.
We wait expectantly to see
pink cherry blossoms on a tree
and flowers that in springtime grow.
How sweet God’s blessings that we know.
The warbling bird; the butterfly;
the promise painted in blue sky -
dear Lord’s awe-inspiring rainbow.
How sweet God’s blessings that we know.
The scintillating stars of night;
a moon in June when big and bright;
refreshment that soft breezes blow.
How sweet God’s blessings that we know.
Cool streams and rivers running clear;
fall’s bounties before winter’s near;
the tranquil days of virgin snow.
How sweet God’s blessings that we know.
Autumnal cinnamon scents the air
Tricking and treating, if you dare
Fancy costumes, ready to scare
Autumnal cinnamon scents the air
Children have bounties of sweets to share
Bobbing for apples and crafting a snare
Autumnal cinnamon scents the air
Tricking and treating, if you dare
Autumnal cinnamon scents the air
Fancy costumes, ready to scare
Children have bounties of sweets to share
Tricking and treating, if you dare
Bobbing for apples and crafting a snare
Assuring all ghosts that you just want to care
A begging bowl, I scarce can pay thy debt,
Let me then indebted to thee remain
For life, to cherish thy bounties I get,
If I wish to give, wonder what’ll ye gain?
So then, I opt to sing paeans of praise—
A lay man plunged in hankering a heart,
A grateful toast to thee is all I raise,
O lighten up my life's much-loaded cart.
As thy child, pray help me grateful to stay,
Amidst all bounties blissfully less blasé,
By lures of life much less carried away,
Be thou indulgent to my wanton ways,
My destiny ‘tis to die dunk in debt—
Prodigal son of thine all so ingrate.
__________________________________
Sonnet | 01.06.2008 | son, prayer
Poet’s note: Man in his life span is so much under divine benevolence, he can never hope to repay his debt. All he can do is to remain ever grateful to God.
Ah Sweet Spring The land comes alive once more
with glorious blooms of all colours just look at the shore
Full of flowers that love the salt breezes
They dip and frolic flirting away joyously
The hills are ablaze with wild flowers
so sweetly scented wafting it down to us
we surrounding all with heavenly aroma
basking us letting us know we are alive
Lush grasses grow to give us sweet hay
allowing us to take care of our stock animals
trees full of vibrant leaves of greens
with birds in their midst singing with joy
Feel the hot rush of blood as you stroll by
passions rising as all seek a mate to love
and continue to multiply forming new families
to go forth and enjoy all the spring bounties.
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