Color it Life
long a favorite
nestles just outside my door
The frosty nights
and sunny days
have spurred the richest color
Red
Not just any
but one that cries out “Life!”
Electric!
Once a medic
half century a farmer
I’ve seen the color before
On others, injured,
on me, minor cuts
The brightest red flows out
Life! The maple shouts!
I have it but it’s slipping
Springtime birthings
summer soothings
and now fall, crisp and power full
A line’s been drawn
rescission cells
a line that halts the flow of life
now this
a special red
two gifts are given
one a birth of water
the next one a birth of spirit
One to wash away
the other to lift us higher
One a springtime, summer, fall
the other eternal
that’s all
One the choice of others
the other solely ours to choose
Precious the flow
so long ago
Precious the blood, of Jesus
Precious he hung
upon Calvary’s tree
Precious, he died there
for you
for me
Precious the flow
so long ago
Precious the blood
of Jesus….
Lin, Fall, 09
In The Trenches
heads together
listening intently
sifting and sorting
bringing to bear
life experience, commitment
Commitment to the Lord
Savior, Immanuel
commitment to serve
together, they pondered
they prayed
People with problems
hurting, needing help
mundane things like money
making things work
important things like structures
whose in charge,
what’s the plan
Should we build it
Men in the trenches
not by demand
but drawn by love
stepping out
spending time
doing the work of leading
Men under fire
often a hidden sort
subtle, but there
a ‘prowling to and fro’ enemy
War.
Ugly war
A fight for men’s souls
talked and prayed, decided
to keep reaching out
keep reaching up
loving each other and those
in need
Even learned a meaning:
Love is
an accurate estimate
and an adequate supply
of another person’s need….
So they did it
for their time
and time, indeed, marches on
No two hundred year old saints
the wise doctor said
so we too are passing
Ralph, Gilbert, now Dave
Good men
great men
giving
headed towards heaven
now arrived
leaving their marks on us
Selah, Lin 12/09 Elders at Large
Ralph Norton
Gilbert Hollis
David Baker
Summer’s Last Fling
to color so richly!
Splash the palette!
Throw it at the earth!
Look at what’s happened!
Grass as fresh as springtime
green and growing and loving the cool, the wet
Tree trunks blackened with rain
India inked and clinging leaves
But some, get this, some
with colors defying
Gold and yellow and red and mixes
shocking our senses so quickly
Where did the colors come from?
They were there…
all the time….
Not all creatures
see all colors
but we do, we can
See, and ponder
the changing seasons
Nature nurturing, confirming
the complexity of creation
breathing deeply the refreshing cool air
Watch a leaf, floating down
Zig zagging, slowly, surely
to a resting place
Soil receiving, welcoming ‘home’
Like us, born of the earth
and returning there
But not like us!
Their colors fade
but ours grow brighter
as heaven’s doors open
and we go home
Lin 10/09
July in Illinois
it’s called ‘global warming’
No matter we set records
for cold and cold again
No matter we’re wearing coats
in mid July in Illinois
Hold fast we must
to the notions above
What are we thinking
or are we thinking at all?
Have patience, we urge
don’t jump from the ship
or the frying pan to the fire
Maybe that should rather be
from the fridge to the freezer?
the macro of things
our records are hazy
if we have them at all
‘Things happen’, it seems
off the wall
out of the blue
And we’re back to our figures
painting new pictures
after all
Life is an adventure!
Lin 07/09
See, Saw, Seen…
just the other night
when the wind did blow and howl?
First I heard
the tympani roll
louder and louder they pounded and boomed
Then flashes of light
zipped and zapped
sizzling whatever they touched
Then a big drop splashed
then two
then more and more and more
All at once a giant firehose
seemed directed at our house!
What did I see?
Nothing but water
as it poured across our windows.
For twenty minutes
then some more
though lesser rain was falling
Finally, I could see
lakes and rivers covered the land
where earlier there were none!
The lakes were huge
the rivers roaring
tearing across the fields
I went to my shop
got my gloves and hard hat
then checked my saw
tension just right, chain fresh sharped
filled her with fuel and looked
Saw I wood
for many hours
making ash branches chunks
Sawdust, noise, cut and cut
Eventually I was done
What would be seen
some winter’s night
would be memories of a storm
As the fireplace glowed
we would know
our work was yielding warmth
Seeing, sawing, now seen in full
the story has an end….
Lin 06/09
Brother
for which there are no price tags
One of them is, surely,
‘clicking’, with another person
Happened to me last week,
far from the farm and home
On the shore of Puget Sound
I sat down next to a fellow
He was well groomed and poised
Might say,
“Comfortable in his own skin”
Conversation began
in a casual way
and then just sort of ‘took off.
We bonded.
Ideas flowed and clicked
about the world around us
Two men, one black, one white,
but inside, becoming brothers
Christianity’s like that
giving links
the core in loving Jesus
Histories can be different
but the today
the going forward
can make a bond that holds
How do we address
the slings and arrows of today
and plan our today, tomorrow lives?
I submit
Begin with Jesus
Study him
Meditate on him
Ponder long and hard
Focus on his words, his actions
Take another step
digging deeper
in mankind’s history, and the Jews
It will come together
but not completely, nor perfectly
Indeed we are on earth
and it’s not heaven
So the story’s not all written
It is for us, for you, for me,
to do our part
as best we can
Love God
and fellow man
Savor.
Lin, post Seattle, Rev. Wayne Perryman, 08/09