Lord, Wilt, Thou at This Time Restore Again the Kingdom to Israel?

All the maples groan:
"Hosanna in the highest!"
leaves spread over road.

Whole-Weed Toast

On that day, when the bread shall rise,
the angel comes with reaping scythe
to lay the fields and furrows bare--
to weed the wheat and tear out tares.

These Are Not Drunken, as Ye Suppose

It's Monday morning,
and I am still hung over
on the blood of Christ.

Being Found in Fashion as a Man, He Humbled Himself

Emmanuel! God is with us:
Word become flesh, Word became ashes.
Dust You were. To dust return--
unto the ground where You were born.

Thou Shalt Worship the Lord Thy God, and Him Only Shalt Thou Serve

Get behind me, Satan!
lest I dash my foot
against a stone-turned-into-bread,
for if I fall down
it's not to worship thee.

Lord, bear me up--
as children unto Abraham--
for I cannot hold my peace:
   Blessed is the king
     who comes in the name of the Lord!
   Peace in heaven,
     and glory in the highest heaven!

Go Ye out to Meet Him / Light-up Night

Virgins, trim your wicks--
string lights along the lampposts.
Hear the cry
(like fireworks)
behold! the Bridegroom cometh.

Better to Trust in the Lord than to Put Confidence in Princes

What is King Uzziah's throne
but a rock in far-away Sala-Ma-Sond?
For higher yet and loftier still
is the Lord of Hosts
than turtle stacks and rising moons.

Holy! Holy! Holy!
The whole earth--
trees, air, birds, bees, house, cow, mule--
is full of His glory.

O My LORD, Send, I Pray Thee, By the Hand of Him Whom Thou Wilt Send

Can I distill Your Spirit, Lord,
by mulling over yesterdaily bread?
My God!
the manna spoils daily!
How can I live
by every Word
left over for millennia?

Red Is the New White

Dare I strut my hour upon the stage--
make a poor player out of Pontius Pilate--
pretending blood upon the hands
as though it were but stage makeup?

O Christ! Thou holy pantomime!
Damned spot! Bloody sponge!
wash out the stain
my play-act repentance
cannot wash away.

Ye Shall Eat It in Haste: It Is the LORD's Passover

Drive-thru Hebrew, fast-food wine--
lamb's blood doorjamb: exit sign.

Get Thee Out of Thy Country, and from Thy Kindred, and from Thy Father's House, unto a Land That I Will Shew Thee

Bring low the sylvan hills.
Exalt the Beaver Vale.
Make straight the streets and avenues.

Like a boundary line
the Beaver falls--
the Ohio flows--
in pleasant places.

East of Eden have I found
two rivers flowing milk and honey?

He Believed in the LORD; and He Counted It to Him for Righteousness

a)
     Abram cast his eyes on cursed earth--
     its every grain of sand a dust-reminder--
     for milk-and-honey is but barren land
     to an aged vagabond.
b)
     Abram, cast your eyes toward heav'n--
     its every countless star a promise--
     for milk-and-honey can be Eden
     even to an aged vagabond.

Let Me Not Hear the Voice of the LORD My God...That I Die Not

Has every rod been sprouted?
Has every bush been burned?
Has every sea been parted?
Has all the manna turned?

Are my lips replete with grumblings?
Have I believed the spies' report?
Am I wandering the wilderness?
Have I earned my just deserts?

There Remaineth Therefore a Rest to the People of God

In that hour when travail passes
(former things and sorrow too)
new heav'n and earth shall issue forth,
delivered of confinement.

Water breaks against the shore;
the earth contracts--
creation groans:
when will the Second Sabbath come,
the Lord rest from His labor-pains?

My Soul Waiteth for the Lord More than They That Watch for the Morning

The sky turns black as the last morning dawns:
there was day, there was night, the night carries on.
The trumpet resounds, the crickets chirp,
the Earliest Bird catches the Wyrm.
Then, like dew, the believers rise
as New Heav'n and Earth photosynthesize,
a tree of life to heal all nations--
come, Lord Jesus! we grow impatient.

For in That He Himself Hath Suffered Being Tempted, He Is Able to Succour Them That Are Tempted

The LORD committed homicide--
on the cross committed suicide--
my God! my God! forsaken, cried.

As It Is Written, He That Had Gathered Much Had Nothing Over; and He That Had Gathered Little Had No Lack

Free power, free water,
bread from heaven: our Father.
The Kingdom is a welfare state--
debt forgiveness, handout grace.

Lo, a Great Multitude, Which No Man Could Number, of All Nations, and Kindreds, and People, and Tongues

The last goodbye
   is not the last goodbye,
but a registration
   for the marching line.
For two by two
   we'll meet again---
nations marching
   toward Jerusalem.

Every Winged Fowl After His Kind: and God Saw That It Was Good

Worm-bacon breakfast:
birds chatter, busy diner--
early bird special.

Jesus Saith unto Her, I That Speaketh unto Thee Am He

Ego eimi, says the Son of Man
before Abraham was, Sam I AM--
way, truth, life, resurrection,
light of world, bread from heaven.

The Word Was Made Flesh, and Dwelt Among Us

Mud spread on eyes, receiving sight--
siloam, sent, to heal the blind.

Mud spread on bread, resurrecting dead--
Siloam, sent, for our sins bled.

He Should Not See Death, Before He Had Seen the Lord's Christ; or, the Difference Between Promise and Fulfillment

Hospice-care prophets
hold long-expected Jesus--
early dismissal.

Drunk in the Spirit

Sing a new song-- o Israel's To Shavuot! to Torah! On Sinai's height-- poured libation of

a drinking psalm-- diasporic throng, to Pentecost! and to Holy Ghost! Jerusalem-- baptismal-bath-tub gin.

Assurance of Pardon

Thou Priest of first and final sacrifice
(east of Eden, Calvary's height)
You covered shame and covered sin--
washed with blood and clothed with skin.

The Lord Himself Shall Descend from Heaven with a Shout, with the Voice of the Archangel, and with the Trump of God

Lord, haste the day
(in two-tone rhyth'm)
when island, sky and mountains skank.

The trump resounds,
trombone descants:
angelic ska--
the Lord descends.

Standing Room Only

Pastor has a photograph
(circa 1947)
showing heads--
like standing grain--
rip'ning in the rows.

Pastor, can your lenses capture
(circa 2016)
sheaves of such Samaritans?

Behold!
Lift up your eyes
from photographs;
look on the fields:
white already to the harvest.

Christ Has Died, Christ Has Risen, Christ Will Come Again

Blood from wine, flesh from bread--
up from the grave alive from dead.

Death Shall Be No More; Death, Thou Shalt Die

No Styx! no Lethe! no Archeron!
no Cocytus! no Phlegethon!
Hades' flood pays tributary--
at conflux by life-river carried.

Whenas streams of living waters flow,
all rivers wind and bend and bow.

On that day, when Death shalt die,
when priest performs the last, last rite,
behold the ferry's final passing:
Charon his own last obol grasping.

Other Foundation No Man Can Lay Than That Is Laid, Which Is Jesus Christ

What three little pigs! what Gadarene swine!
gath'ring stubble but leaving bricks behind.
Pearl-tramplers! Babel-builders!
Woe unto you, straw-and-stick gilders!

Fire shall reveal by huff and by puff:
tabernacle, pig-sty, temple or trough.
Himself shall be saved, as yet by a flame--
or cooked for the wolf, a honey-baked ham.

Lament for the Orphaned Father

In the morning we read of Jephthah's daughter,
wondering why no deus ex machina
and whether the-Lord-will-provide
ceases at the foot of Mount Moriah.

In the evening we visit Jephthah, father,
wondering why?
and whether Deus is machine
for having taken daughter
two-months plus bewailing
not on mountain, but in nursing home.

Dust Thou Art, and unto Dust Thou Shalt Return

The ash fades fast, the fast to ashes--
Sunday's palms to Friday's lashes.
Penitents kneel in humbled masses
for recycled palms--the lash that blesses.

Get Behind Me, Satan!

Serpent Satan, tempted Christ, bow in worship, skip the cross Conquer cities, kingdoms, nations—

Simon Peter, belied the Teacher: grasp at godhood omit the good. stay, prolong Transfiguration.

Not My Will, but Thine Be Done

David breached in Bethlehem;
Jacob moved to Egypt;
Moses led as prophet-priest;
Elijah boasted Spirit.
The Word was made flesh--
not active voice!
Why type-cast Christ
with pow'r and choice?

Consider Ruth;
remember Ester:
obedient servants,
intercessors.
For Jesus was not Joseph's
but was his mother's son.
He was taught by Woman Wisdom--
the passive voice, Thy will be done.

Daughter, Thy Faith Hath Made Thee Whole

Twelve years bleeding, twelve-years sleeping--
the Teacher felt His power leaving.
While still speaking, wailers weeping--
at Jesus' touch the unclean fleeting.

Creation Ex Oratorio

At Kosmos' birth the world was spoken:

God breathed sky and dribbled ocean.

He sustains the earth like whole note held,

singing still the conceptive spell.

In labor pains creation drones--

for in full measure judgment comes.

Insufficient Funds

What recourse do I have in works
against the death-wage paycheck cut for me?

But Christ! what holy fraud!
that you would countersign my sin
and cash my greens across your back.

The Marriage of the Lamb Is Come, and His Wife Hath Made Herself Ready

We'll take a cup of kindness--
yet for Thou auld-lang-syne-expected Jesus.

For fast away the old year passes:
Thine advent thwarted as
another Christmas culminates
(à la Harold Camping, Harmonites)
in marriage feast unconsummated.