weathered face

(haiku)

weathered face of stone

or battered sea cliff or man

life experienced

Friday

Friday

service in Spanish and English

with translations for each culture

to follow as the other is spoken

warmth of caring, joining in each verse

of “Were You There” between familiar

quotations so often heard by rote

darkening of the church as we left

in silence, quieted to being able

to let in the power of experiencing

       Hillsboro United Methodist

white-out assurance

white-out this morning

but merely from fog, not snow

chill from the dampness

yet i know from experience and faith

that what lurks next to me will dissipate

and the familiar objects and colors

will emerge as though regrown

what i can only barely imagine

is the terror in such conditions

of those who do not have

such self-assurance

little ones of war

a set to rosebud lips

that speaks of never smiling

an impenetrable darkness

to once sparkling eyes

that says “I am too old

to any longer cry”

though the teeth are baby

and hair still wispy

but experience weighs

heavier than decades

this i’ve gotta see

his roommates know little reason

to go home for the holidays

they listen, unconvinced, to stories

of his family gathering in laughter

or huddling close in times of ache

or pain or tears, being there to help

in ways he had not yet realized

he needed them

he may well have one or two

with him next celebration time

out of body

 so many cultures have believed

that dreamers leave their physical

body to experience what they dream

believing also, perhaps, that many

planes of existence are reality

and our senses are attuned

to only one aspect of being

intriguing, but life as we know it

seems so complex and interactive

i hesitate to want to take on more

without evidence as i do not

adequate for what i need to be

even here and now

scar price

‘whatever doesn’t kill you

makes you stronger’

scars being tougher

and less flexible than skin