Photo by Deanna Marie Metts
All I wanted was to give you a gift –
A pretty something you could wear
On your wrist,
Or around your neck.
Something having nothing to do
With construction paper,
scissors,
or crayons.
Something purchased with paper money
From a department store.
Something wrapped in ribbon.
Now all I want is to give you a gift –
Something having nothing to do
With purchases
With paper money.
I want to give you
Sunny smiles,
Smooth sailing,
Sweet solace.
Where cheers for gun rights
Paled those for unborn children
And left me in tears
My hope lies in this:
“The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: He channels it where He wills.” ~ Proverbs 21:1
Photo credit: www.slate.com
Image credit: awesomeaj.com
As children,
We were taught
To always
Always
Look left, and right,
Then proceed.
As adults
We continue
To always
Always
Look left, and right,
Then proceed,
And we’re free-
F
A
L
L
I
N
G
For lack of middle ground.
© Marie Elena Good, 2016
Photo credit: Wikimedia
“And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?” ~ Mat. 7:3
Another checkmark in our verdicts’ log –
Our record of the judgements we decree.
We haughtily embrace the demagogue
Whose words lynch those with whom we disagree.
Rose-colored glasses will not help our plight –
We need to clearly see our world “as is.”
God’s eyes spill love despite His perfect sight.
Oh, may He help us eye our world through His.
So quick to judge. To loathe. To vilify.
So blinded by the log in our own eye.
© Marie Elena Good, 2016
Media photo as presented by Photography of Nia
I can’t pretend to understand
As hostile minds, with arms in hand,
Disturb a peaceful country’s night
While innocents hole up in fright.
Another friend, another cry,
Another ally begging, “why?”
Another hashtag adding weight
To those who prompt and spread the hate.
This fallen universe, complex:
While animosity is flexed,
A softness tries to smooth the way
From violent night, to placid day.
Let softness have its gentle sway;
Let mankind not be mankind’s prey.
© Marie Elena Good
Hate reigns. What remains
To say? To pray?
We disavow
(somehow)
Our sin in errant skin –
Our callous view of life
As strife endures, and carnage lures
The vilest mind.
Oh, mankind!
Weep desolately deep
As France steeps in blood,
And floods of tears release
A piece of Nice.
© Marie Elena Good
Photo credit: dreamstime.com
We as children
Face-up in soft grass
Hands clasped behind our heads
Watching floating scenes above,
Seeing things differently –
Each through our own lens,
Mimicking real life.
© Marie Elena Good
We’ve lost our first Love.
Even clouds of witnesses
Weep over our land.
As life bleeds red,
My guilt, this:
I thank my God
My love is not
In blue uniform;
My son, in black skin.
© Marie Elena Good
Image credit: Reusable Art Dot Com
bikes with beaded spokes
ribboned trikes, wagons, drums, tears
rain on our parade
