When I Lay Me Down to Sleep

When I lay me down to sleep, I know my soul the Lord sets free. My dreams unlocked, with His thoughts speak. They listen to the songs of frogs, then tell the tale all evening long. And when my tears lead me to sleep, His feed my night with passions deep. Brought by raven and hidden means, I find the place my heart must need. The place where I can lay me down, and trust the tree that forever frowns. The tree He bore upon His back, to see His tears drip like its sap, falling from it's tallest stand to feed my heart, grafted deeply in its path.


[I had a picture something like this in my head for the past week, so I set out to sketch it on Friday, later I wondered about the story it might tell, and this free write was the result. It's not meant to be taken too seriously, just have fun with it.]

The Measure of Your Love

What is the real measure of Your love- how deep, how far, how wide? Could I discover it's boundaries, it's limits where the affections cease and the praises are undue? I'll pull up the pages of history, search for the woman you failed to set free. I'll become a hungry student of the truth, open the fearful mysteries too great for the faithless to question, too bold for the weak to see. And yet, I'll never find the end. I'll rediscover Columbus- profess the proof- the world is round! And all my searching's brought me back to this very same ground: He is love, and here I stand.

The Heart of the Storm

Skin on skin
He’s the God of Contention
Moving within


Seeking and stirring
The Heart of the Storm
My heart’s embracing


Have you seen Him?
Have you held Him?
Beheld Him, the Heart of the Storm?

(September 2008, Sunday Morning)

Amazing Grace

“I once was lost” so I hear it sung,
Then some God sent into the world, a Son.
My soul accost as the man was hung
Now all my sins, my shame and pain, undone.

I sing the words. At first my mouth just speaks,
Her words rehearsing time.
How sweet the sound of the grace she seeks
For crimes far less than mine.

This ebony, I call my life.
I want to know what she means by free.
Eternity, absence of strife.
Forgiveness for a sinner, so unclean.


The lame can run.
The blind- at last we finally see.


(February 2008)

When I Saw You

“Who am I that you should know my name?
My fragile thoughts and tiny frame.”

“Oh but my Mighty eye has seen you all the same.
And when I saw, I came.
For you are just as I had dreamed,
And you are worthy as I deem.
The rivers of my love alas have found their stream”


“I have heard of your fame.
Our mothers sang of a man untamed, unrestricted, unashamed
Healing the broken, raped, and lame.
They said He’d wash away my crimson stains,
These bloodied sheets, these dried up veins.
They said, “Court His favor, and when He comes, remain”


“When I saw you, my body was crushed and broken
My hands were cut, my side pierced, my life a token
Of affection, the price demanded, the judgment spoken.
And faithfully I made the shut gates, open.

All this I did when I saw you.”


“But all I have to offer is myself, bruised and broken, naked and untrue.”


“In My Lover’s eyes you are undone, and in My arms all things are new.”

Through the Pane

Inside the house, we’re safe.
The weather tumbles, fights, and fumbles,
But we must not feel it in this place.
Life crumbles, bites, and we stumble,
But we must not show it on our face.

It’s easiest when left inside,
There’s no struggle to explain it all.
You say it’s best if just denied,
You’d really best contain this fall.
But still- the tide swells deep and wide.

Your blurry view stares through the pane,
The clouds roll dark and the figures fight.
Flowers, sunshine, memories marred by the rain;
There’s no one daring outdoors tonight.
And hidden stars say the future steers the same.

For curious or desperate, you can’t quite tell
Nor dare you to decide, for if you wait
You might not follow this intrinsic bell.
So, with one stride, you unlatch the only gate
Run outside, and scream and yell!

The rain falls soft and warm.
The trees rage, but their roots are deep and strong.
Life isn’t what you had seen to be the storm.
Hope is here, only hidden by the pane for so long
Now, the dawn begins to fight and form.

(August 2 2007, Written for a friend.)

Between the sun and the dawn,
Am I in Your promises.
Between the rain and the storm,
Wait I, and all You’ve sworn.