The Edge of Bloom
Almost, at this moment:
no matter how feeble the light
upon the trees,
despite this night benumbed,
there are buds that tiptoe
at the pinnacle of jagged cliffs,
careening
at the edge
of bloom —
this miracle,
this dance of beauty
cannot be halted,
cannot be restrained.
by D. G. Vachal © 2013
*** Image by Wikimedia Commons
The Years, My Friend
The years, my friend, have not been kind
upon your marble face, I hear the river songs
tinkle with the cymbals,
your eyes are shriveled grapes upon the vine,
your mouth a wounded cherry,
pecked reddish-grey
by restless robins.
Take my hand, my friend,
let us go to the calling fields that blaze with diamonds
under the eternal skies,
to the orchards in the midst of these winter days,
where leafless branches stand dauntless
in the endless cold, with jubilant tales to tell
in the blizzard of their days —
harken to the legends
of the root and the bud and the sun,
and the promise
(believe the promise)
that warmth and springtime
will come,
(it always comes)
once again.
by D. G. Vachal © 2013
*** Photography by Farhad
Before Night Falls
Purpureal murmurs,
gasps of pink,
orderly scribbles
of wind-swept boughs
scatter chantilly lace
against a silken
sky —
Woman:
wear the fragile veil
upon your crown,
tread softly into the twilight
cathedral,
illuminate
the candles,
sing
like the nightingale
before the darkness
falls.
By D. G. Vachal © 2012
*** Photography by Franzengel
“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24
In the midst of a frenzied afternoon at work today, I paused to read an email from my daughter Amy:
“I’ve been thinking about this quote a lot lately: “This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” The last two words, “in it”, are what have me thinking. The phrase makes it seem like it’s a special place – a porcelain cup, specially made, specially prepared – to rejoice, to revel, to live fully in — when you are in something like a cup of tea, surrounded.”
Any given second, any given breath, we are within the walls of a day. We can’t see tomorrow – and so we can only treat it with what we can’t see – with hope (but how great is our hope when we think about Jesus)? We see only today, and our hands, and our feet, and our loved ones, and whatever else God has given us for today. “
What Amy wanted to tell me is that today is not only a special time, but a unique and wondrous place designed by God for us to live and breathe in.
The porcelain tea cup of today.
I smile at the thought of today and of pink porcelain cups.
by D. G. V.
*** Author’s Note: this link leads to a poem I wrote for my daughter Amy.
” For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5:14
The ability to walk is a significant milestone for any human being, expanding the vista of one’s surroundings and experiences; it is a gateway to physical freedom.
The word “walk” is found throughout the Bible. I think of Psalm 1 describing the pathways that the righteous avoid, symbolized in terms of the various positions from walking, to standing, to sitting: a retrogression from mobility to immobility.
I think of Jesus commanding the paralytic to rise, take up his bed, and walk. I think of the apostle Peter, instructing the man crippled from birth to arise and walk in the name of Jesus.
In Galatians 5, the apostle Paul talks about “walking in the Spirit”. As I read this chapter, I perceive that the Christian walk involves the interdependencies of the virtues of faith, hope and love. Paul mentions the words “standing”, “waiting” and “walking”. It is faith that enables us to live in the Spirit, and to stand fast in the liberty given by Christ. It is also faith which builds up the “hope of righteousness.” Hope gives the grace to wait for desired ends. But it is love that makes faith work! Think of how powerful love is: as faith and hope enable the first step, it is love that sustains the walk.
Love is the fulfillment of the law. Walking in the Spirit, led by the Spirit, is walking in love. It is living and stepping outside the boundaries of the law, into the realm of total liberty. Walking in love demolishes the lusts and desires of the flesh and its pertinent bondages, yielding and turning into reality the very fruits of the hope of righteousness through faith.
Love never fails.
* photograph: by Hugo Romano
lilies, sparrows and grass 
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