Tincture

Pixabay

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Through obstacles and roadblocks,

Backtrackings and steep stairs

Facing disappointment and heartache

The feeling nobody cares

When disease and disorder

Seem to have won

Remember to still hope

And by thus – overcome

For hope is the tincture

Brewed to relieve

All of these troubles

If in it you believe

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I don’t not know if this form has a proper name. It is however my default poetic form using cadence and rhyme to drive it. I don’t know if I ever matured beyond Dr Seuss, but there is something in it that speaks to the inner me.

Padre

Colleen’s last poetry challenge of 2020, is to write a poem about hope, using our favourite poetry form (and on this occasion, it doesn’t have to be syllabic). She asks that we make these poems inspirational to others.

She stipulates that we should avoid negativity and politics.

We are to also tell us why the specific form we chose is our favourite.

Better Times Ahead

Pixabay

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In the bleakest of midwinters

On the coldest of cold days

The sun still keeps its promise

And light will have its way

No matter how drear the prospects

Or the forecasts doom and dread

Look for the light at the end of the tunnel

There are better times ahead

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Padre

Reflections On A Star

Pixabay

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The conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn has just passed after an absence of hundreds of years. Some call this the Christmas Star or the Bethlehem Star. In this year of fires, floods, racial and social unrest, and a world-wide pandemic it is perhaps a time to take stock and to reflect on the story not of this planetary alignment, but of the star of the Gospel account. It was a harbinger of the coming of Emmanuel, God with us. It marked a transition in our relationship with the divine. The age of the Fall of Adam was coming to an end, and a promised saviour, the Messiah had come.

That did not mean that wars and rumours of wars, or fires, floods, and misfortune were coming to an end – 2020 surely shows us that. What it does say is there is a hope that is greater than those trials that is opened to us.

As I was reflecting on this I picked three YouTube videos to share which capture some of my thoughts. The first speaks of the coming of Emmanuel. The other two of the stresses and strains that Mary, the mother of Jesus may have faced in her obedience to God’s call. That obedience in the face of uncertainty and surely fears is a telling example for us all.

I wish all of you a happy Christmas, and pray that what ever the future holds for us, that we might cling to the Emmanuel – God with us.

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Padre

Flicker of Hope, Glow of Home

Nick Bondarev at Pexels

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A little flickering candle

A small light in the window waits

A tiny glow to guide you

A hope that you might spy it

As you make your way back home

A little flickering candle

An emblem of hopes and dreams

And it is there to guide you

As you follow its tiny beams

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Padre

No Sickness, No Toil, Nor Danger

Version from Cold Mountain

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The traditional spiritual song Wayfaring Stranger is a great use of the negative phrase used as a prompt by Jim Adams’ for today’s challenge. The song speaks of a heavenly rest where “no” problems of this life will be found. The song has been released by Johnny Cash (whose version I have posted the lyrics), and by Jack White in a version used in the Civil War film Cold Mountain. There is just something haunting about White’s version that makes me prefer it.

Lyrics

I’m just a poor wayfaring stranger
Traveling through this world below
There is no sickness, no toil, nor danger
In that bright land to which I goI’m going there to see my Father
And all my loved ones who’ve gone on
I’m just going over Jordan
I’m just going over homeI know dark clouds will gather ’round me
I know my way is hard and steep
But beauteous fields arise before me
Where God’s redeemed, their vigils keep
I’m going there to see my Mother
She said she’d meet me when I comeSo, I’m just going over Jordan
I’m just going over home
I’m just going over Jordan
I’m just going over home

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Traditional

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Padre

Darkest (ABP 15)

Pixabay

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Things seemed hopeless

Things seemed bleak

Years of effort now crowned by defeat

Why had he left his childhood home

To as an itinerant the land to roam?

Just as all seemed filled with success

Betrayal and death left all plans a mess

But now a claim of a thing beyond belief

Made by comrades – while he suffered grief

How can their statements possibly be true?

For he saw the corpse and the burial too?

And as he said he will never believe

Jesus appeared – all his doubts to relieve

Padre

John 20

August Bible Poems #15

Red-Velvet Future

Red Velvet – Pixabay

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What shall the future show –

What do our fortunes hold?

If wishes really do come true –

Surely our fondest dreams will unfold.

It shall be like a new beginning,

A fresh dawn of peace and light

The rising of the dawn’s new sun –

Filled with the morning‘s glory bright.

The future will bring luscious cheer

Thick red velvet – us – softly surround

Cocooned from threats or fears

All adversity to confound.

No more – shall life be terra-cotta baked

Filled with bluffs and lies

But honesty shall bloom afresh

Before our very eyes.

______

Padre

Paint Chip Poetry Prompt #35

The Challenge:

The theme is The Future. The paint chip words and phrases are: morning glory, red velvet, terra-cotta, and bluff.  The three angel words are: honesty, light, and peace.  Pick at least one of the angel card words to shape your future world and use all four paint chip words as colors.

 

Tomb (ABP 12)

“Where were you? 

Why did you delay?

If you had only been here –

He would have been saved.”*

 

“I have come in the fullness of time.

Lazarus shall not remain in the grave

His tomb only prefigures mine

And by it – more than Lazarus I will save.”

 

From Adam to Abraham, Abraham to David,

From David to Zerubbabel and beyond,**

We too like Lazarus – were dead in our sin

But by Jesus’s grave we have won.

 

Padre

August Bible Poem 12

John 11*

Matthew 1, Luke 3**

 

 

 

 

Rainbow Days

Our lives are full of joys and loves

Spring flowers and Summer days

Golden leaves of the Fall

And soft snowflakes among which we did play

And remember also there have been storms

As it might feel in this current malaise

But look up and remember that from storms

We find our new rainbow days

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Padre

*Image – Pixabay

For H.S. Monroe’s friend

The Light Beyond

Photo by Raine Nectar on Pexels.com

There is a light beyond –

The storm clouds that rock our days

Viral infections, political deflections,

And a system used to its bad old ways

But there are those who join together in heart

Considering the many and not just the few

Who their own comforts are willing to set aside

For it is the right thing for them to do

Whether heeding a lock down

Or calling a wrong a wrong;  we will find a way

To see the rainbow of hope appear

And with it push the storm clouds away

 

Padre

 

Photo Challenge #319

dVerse