Triangle Poems IV

On By robertalanrifeIn Life of Rob, Waxing Poetic1 Comment

Uprooted

Hands unseen reach from elsewhere

to dig and pull and strip

what little else remains

to be troubling

the places

where life

is.

 

 

Replanted

Hands unseen reach from elsewhere

to dig and hold and place

newness green and fit

 into rows of

strong and new,

wondrous

 life.

 

 

Piercèd Wonder

Breached against a sullen sky

one wicked afternoon,

sad eyes behold the

piercèd wonder.

He saw them

and he

wept.

 

Resignation

First it was impossible,

then it was just painful.

Now it’s both painful

impossible

and troubling,

but it’s

done.

 

 

Peace

A most illusory thing,

is this thing we call “peace.”

Too tightly grasp and

it leaves faster.

Let it go,

and it’s

yours.

Leviticus, Lambs and all in All

On By robertalanrifeIn Christianity, faith, spiritual formation, worship2 Comments

It is not generally my style to be a theological “shock-jockey” and I have no particular love for sacrificial triumphalism. Nor do I especially value our over indulgence in violent guilt offering atonement theories that merely perpetuate condemnation rather than permeate grace. I am, however, reading through Leviticus and made some profound connections between what the ancient Hebrews might have encountered and what a less ancient Hebrew once encountered to counter the former.

Take it.

Take it all.

Take it all and more, it was never mine to begin with.

All that was my all I sacrifice before the great All.

All that I thought was all I sacrifice before the great All.

My all can never be All unless given up for the all in All.

I flay these guiltless idol-beasts on the bloodstained altar of grace,

where all that is ever All once was.

This blood matches my own, this heart my own;

this pain my own, these eyes and innards my own.

This poor bleating one, shivering and afraid

with eyes askance and yet calm

foreshadows another Lamb

eviscerated for all that I have done-

ensconces all that I will be.

We are one because you have ordained it so.

These cultic rites and offerings weigh heavily upon me;

so labor intensive, so messy, so inconvenient, so…expensive.

Oh, I get it.

prayer of the man without sight

On By robertalanrifeIn Life of Rob, Waxing PoeticLeave a comment

 

So it is now to be, Lord,

that penance brings with it her own harder penance;

riddled throughout with pain, sweetly nuanced

with character like wine, red and melancholy and ripe?

Forsworn am I from joy so privily gotten

that, nestled deep in shallow places,

this hollowed out heart hallway, designed for

good and light and sweet,

lies overwrought, undone.

Paint has pealed from walls of these plastered eyes

inured to seeing what not to see.

I wish eyes and heart were unconnected.

For then, might I see.

 

Lord, tear out seeing eyes and replace them with blind

if only to remind me of what it was to see;

 

and then, blindly, to rejoice.

 

…and he said to him, “follow me”: a Litany

On By robertalanrifeIn Christian spirituality, Christianity, faith, life together, liturgy, sacramental living, spiritual formation, worship4 Comments

This litany grew out of a class I took as part of my master’s program….

 

How good it is whenever we leave all false agendas, desires, plans, schemes, thoughts – selves behind and obediently follow the Master without hesitation.

…and he said to him, “Follow me.”

How good to imagine a world where those without hope are given hope because the community of Jesus follow the leading of their Master and Teacher and bring this hope in all they say and do.

…and he said to him, “Follow me.”

How good, to host the Presence keeping company with sinners, tax collectors, lepers and the outcasts of society.

…and he said to him, “Follow me.”

How good to ever have ears to hear the voice of Jesus calling to us, urging us to follow him wherever he goes participating with him in bringing the new wine of God’s kingdom to light around us.

…and he said to him, “Follow me.”

How good to live before God every moment with godly sorrow for our sin, fully embracing our many and varied brokenness in honesty and authenticity.

…and he said to him, “Follow me.”

How good to celebrate with all whose repentance brings new life and an accompanying deep life change even when such celebration causes raised eyebrows.

…and he said to him, “Follow me.”

How good never to allow ourselves to succumb to religious peer pressure that traps one in the smothering flames of imposed, ungodly parameters of faith life and thereby lessen the gospel message in compliance with it.

…and he said to him, “Follow me.”

How good never to succumb to the same judgmental spirit which produces and perpetuates religious peer pressure. “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

…and he said to him, “Follow me.”

How good to taste the old, complexly rich and fragrant wine of our forebears while working in the vineyard alongside our Master Winemaker.

…and he said to him, “Follow me.”

How good, to “stand in the place where you work” looking left and right to find those of ill repute and the despised with whom to drink new wine.

…and he said to him, “Follow me.”

How good to stand in the place where others are, be the voice of Jesus calling to them, saying “follow me” and teach them how to catch others in the net of grace.

…and he said to him, “Follow me.”

How good to be those who hold the redemptive instruments of grace at the bedsides of the broken together with our great Physician.

…and he said to him, “Follow me.”

How good to bring encouragement to all whose “bridegroom” has been taken from them either by sickness, death or malfeasance.

…and he said to him, “Follow me.”

How good…

How good, indeed.

Praise be to the Lord of all lepers, losers, limpers and lovers!

…and he says to us, “Follow me.”

Shine

On By robertalanrifeIn Prayers & Liturgy, Waxing PoeticLeave a comment

I’ve shared previously of my love for Christine Valters-Paintner’s wonderful website “Abbey of the Arts”: http://abbeyofthearts.com/

This poem represents my contribution to her latest Poetry Party. Come, join in the fun!


Shine, like the brightness of one’s forehead

Where things thought become things seen.

 

Shine, like the eyes of a child

Newly opened to a world of worlds.

 

Shine, like rays of heat

From the sidewalk of our common contentments.

 

Shine out like shook foil

As Hopkins reminds us.

 

Shine, like our righteousness at noonday

As the prophet reminds us.

 

Shine, where all else

Has refused such invitation.

 

Shine, until to shine

Is all that is either possible or necessary.

 

Shine, as the one before us

Shines.

On By robertalanrifeIn Words...always words2 Comments

Although really a prayer it is done in poetic fashion, not unlike the Psalms…just lesser.

robertalanrife's avatarinnerwoven

Lord, a heart lies in anguish’d ruins,

haunt of those whose boots are stuffed full

of the detritus found only on lonely hillsides

and mucky marshes.

 

There is no comfort in comfort;

comfort itself is a mockery, a shadow.

My soul is o’er grown with the sadness of sin,

untimely and magnetic North to this sorry South.

 

Finding is, to me, just another losing

of what was never found, nor seen;

the secondary reality of a desert’s shimmering heat

rising above an already parched, dead land.

 

Beasts of memory and regret feed

on the bowels of my discontent,

and I am emptied, disavowed of what might

otherwise provide hints of hope, of life.

 

The heartsickness of a harrowed soul

is its own reward to the one who is lost;

wretched reminder of yesterday’s loss by

the infected, troubled mind.

 

Is there to be yet a…

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a contemporary psalm of lament

On By robertalanrifeIn Christian spirituality, Christianity, faith, spiritual formation2 Comments

Lord, a heart lies in anguish’d ruins,

haunt of those whose boots are stuffed full

of the detritus found only on lonely hillsides

and mucky marshes.

 

There is no comfort in comfort;

comfort itself is a mockery, a shadow.

My soul is o’er grown with the sadness of sin,

untimely and magnetic North to this sorry South.

 

Finding is, to me, just another losing

of what was never found, nor seen;

the secondary reality of a desert’s shimmering heat

rising above an already parched, dead land.

 

Beasts of memory and regret feed

on the bowels of my discontent,

and I am emptied, disavowed of what might

otherwise provide hints of hope, of life.

 

The heartsickness of a harrowed soul

is its own reward to the one who is lost;

wretched reminder of yesterday’s loss by

the infected, troubled mind.

 

Is there to be yet a darker dark

in this once proud cave,

suspended from the slippery ceiling

of this crowded, empty space?

 

How long?

How long, O hidden one,

must I only think I see what troubled images

broken mirrors bring of half a man?

 

Does your heart still break for the broken and breaking brood

of souls, unwhole, and garden walls, both shattered and unsure?

Do your light and lilting footsteps no longer fall

upon once green grasses; once ripe gardens?

 

I can’t remember your name.

Do you remember mine?

If this be my last will and testament,

so be it, if only others may not find me thus.

 

If your face be turned away,

may it be for the sake of a clearing breath,

a yearning sigh, a readying glance,

that in returning…

 

sees me again.

Haiku prayers

On By robertalanrifeIn Prayers & Liturgy, Waxing PoeticLeave a comment

The contemplative, Japanese poetic form of Haiku is one of many ways to seek inner solitude by way of simple, syllabic word constructions. They were designed to be composed and penned quickly, easily and deeply and then…tossed away like brittle leaves in an autumn breeze. There, they are caught by other breezes and float upward to God. The 5,7, 5 pattern is quite enjoyable and easy to learn. Try it and share some of your own.


I’m here to listen

To the beating heart of God

And hear the silence

 

Perfect in beauty

Shrouded in the mists of heav’n

You reign, exalted

 

Never ending one

See what no one else can see

Come, sweet intrusion

 

Come, save me, O God

Release me from my prison

That I might praise you

 

When separation

Comes to lonely, seeking souls

You share our longing

 

How can I untie

What knots of sin lie beneath-

That you, alone, see?

 

Guide with compassion,

Lead un-wholly hearts to cry

And, finally, see

 

Can you see them now

In suff’ring, never-ending?

Great One, release them

 

Never have I seen

The shining face of our God

So full of yearning

God is there – a litany

On By robertalanrifeIn Christianity, faith, life together, liturgy, sacramental living, worship2 Comments

As a contemporary liturgist for some years now it has been my job to help congregations experience their God and express their spiritual journey in corporate worship. Sometimes that has meant developing new ways of saying old things. The following is a short litany I’ve used on many occasions, sometimes as an aid to prayer, sometimes as a call to worship, other times simply for common reflection on the nearness of God. I pray that it is inspiring, or, at least…useful in some way.


When day moves into night and the seasons each stake their four quarter claim,

God is there.

When sadness, death and pain becoming the defining characteristics of our path,

God is there.

When God puts a new song in our mouth, a song of praise to our God,

God is there.

When words no longer come and shutters are drawn on lonely minds,

God is there.

When youthfulness reigns in life and limb and lingers in our days,

God is there.

When communities succumb to individualism and self-talk,

God is there.

When the common grace given us all finds voice among us and I  becomes we,

God is there.

Through all our days, our joys, our pain, our defeats, our triumphs, our lives,

God is there. 

 

God is here.

Poets who inspire

On By robertalanrifeIn Waxing PoeticLeave a comment

I love finding other poets, poets who inspire and create pictures both wild and beautiful of the cosmos. This girl is one of those…

http://melodylowes.com/2012/06/12/the-wind-is-a-restless-soul-tonight/