guilt weighs bitterly
self chokes on confession but
forgiveness tastes sweet
real repentance turns around
God delights to show mercy
Look around, even within, and recognize the brokenness of sin. Look up to Jesus and find a fresh start…again!
fresh start
06 Feb 2026 3 Comments
in tanka Tags: confession, forgiveness, guilt, Jesus, mercy, repentance, sin
holy week triolet
05 Apr 2023 5 Comments
in scripture, triolet Tags: cross, crucifixion, Jesus, life, love, resureection, sin
if we believe, we will be saved
remember how God loves us still
although it’s true we live depraved
if we believe, we will be saved
from idols that keep souls enslaved
we can’t be freed by our own will
if we believe, we will be saved
remember how God loves us still
dear Jesus offered life on cross
blood of pure lamb is shed for sin
sin brings us death, despair, chaos
dear Jesus offered life on cross
estranged from Father, such a loss
when God turned face away from him
dear Jesus offered life on cross
blood of pure lamb is shed for sin
Christ is risen, he lives today
come look, the grave is now empty!
women witness what angels say
“Christ is risen, he lives today!”
our heavy stone is rolled away
john and peter run fast to see
Christ is risen, he lives today
come look, the grave is now empty!
all must die
26 Dec 2021 2 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: death, fear, psalm, sin, wisdom
“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12
note gray hairs
another wrinkle
an ache in bones
or problems with
private plumbing
forget a name or
why (oh why?) you
came into the room
then go back again
to seek missing key
the key to wisdom:
remember you die
but why (oh why)?
death comes by sin
it’s without & within
fear of death and
God’s wrath; we
deserve both yet
He bore worst of
both for you, me
believe in Son
sent from the One
in whom justice
and mercy meet;
our Father & home
Inspired by sermon on Psalm 90 today by Pastor John Lee.
price paid for paradise
17 Aug 2019 22 Comments
in rhyming verse, sestina Tags: creation, fall, man, paradise, redemption, restoration, sacrifice, sin
A man is wed to land as dear as wife
and for his farm he‘ll gladly sacrifice
what is his livelihood becomes his life
such dedication keeps away most vice
invested time gives meaning in the strife
as he creates his own small paradise
reflection of first garden paradise
tilling the land together, man and wife
completely innocent of hate or strife
man gladly gave his rib, small sacrifice
but snake twisted the truth of God’s advice
eating forbidden fruit embittered life
to work in sweat would be man’s lot in life
rebellion led them out of paradise
their eyes opened to every evil vice
still-birth of sin brought pain to Adam’s wife
to cover shame requires blood sacrifice
our fall brought all creation death and strife
seeds of weed, thistle, and thorn now rife
disease and aging process shortens life
to bear children demands self-sacrifice
we cannot find way back to paradise
now shame’s dark secrets divide man and wife
our world is broken by our greed and vice
the Enemy holds captives in sin’s vise
conquers the world with anger, fear, and strife
cools the love between each man and wife
our stubborn pride leads miserable life
the only way to restore paradise
would be a perfect human sacrifice
God’s Son offered himself as sacrifice
divine and human free of any vice
for Christ alone can restore paradise
and put an end to all our sin and strife
if choose to follow him, we find true life
he loves the church as his own precious wife
to work the land ‘mid sacrifice and strife
farmer’s advice says his is still best life
earth’s paradise shared with beloved wife
This sestina surprised me by turning theological…I think it was the repeating/rhyming word choices I made that lent itself to themes of creation/fall/redemption/restoration. A sestina has six stanzas of six lines followed by a 3-line envoi each with a complicated pattern of final words repeated. This challenging form is described in detail by our host Victoria at d’Verse Poets.
who has ears to hear…
01 Aug 2018 14 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: demons, ears, fire, hell, silence, sin
Hell may
assault ears with
unearthly shrieks of
self-condemned rebels
tortured by vicious demons,
an infernal crackling
of eternal fire,
but worse yet
will be the
echoing miseries of sin,
utter absence of love,
awful silence of God.
archetypical apple
24 Jan 2018 10 Comments
in free verse, story Tags: apple, cyanide, death, eve, poison, sin
What strange poison
did woman reach
for in the garden?
mother of all living bit into death for all
Was it a stinging tree
that touched her with
heart-shaped leaves?
intoxicating nature of toxic relations
Was she anesthetized
by curare-tipped dart
from satan’s blowpipe?
it can kill as easily as it can cure
Would eve even
succumb to snakeroot,
from salesman selling herbs?
fruit to make wise and pleasing to eyes
Would she suspect
the seeds of lovely apple
convey hydrogen cyanide?
seed of deception is sin, fruit of sin is death
poetic form re-defined
23 Jan 2015 3 Comments
in cinquain Tags: cinquain, poetic form, sin
Definition
Cinquain:
five-line poem;
twenty-two syllables
laid out two, four, six, eight, then two
again.
-Tony Maude
_____
just messing around with cinquain form:
sin-quain poem
snarky malarky
odd syllabification
count: three, five, seven, nine; then three more
not a sin 🙂
_____
Tony came up with this same breaking of the form on d’Verse!
See my other Jan.23 post, “Don’t taste the slush” for another sample of this modified form…
cradle song
20 Jun 2014 12 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: babe, blue-sky eyes, precious, sin
Precious babe with heaven-kissed skin
open wide your blue-sky eyes
to the family that welcomes you in.
Precious babe with heaven-kissed skin
this wide world groans under pains of sin
but LOVE can be found if you learn from the wise.
Precious babe with heaven-kissed skin
open wise your blue-sky eyes.
__________________
Triolet dedicated to my new grand daughter born 6-19-14
Link to d’VersePoets
a poem in my pocket 
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