Amuse-Bouche

Word, become flesh;
     enmesh in bread.
This sweet foretaste is but a tease--
     this wine a titillation.

Entrée New Jerusalem.
     Make straight a path in the dessert.
O LORD, we hunger
     for the wedding feast.

Then Manasseh Knew That the LORD He Was God

Manasseh, weep! You learned too late.
The LORD provides. He mediates:
     a skin to cover Adam's shame,
     a ram to maintain Isaac's name,
     His self-Son offered up the same.
Lo, the only pure infanticide
is when Son and Father coincide.

There Will Be No Gloom for Those Who Were in Anguish

The people walk in winter
(wander land)
darkened by exilic gloom--
for it's the new birds that have gone away,
the blue that still remain.

But, lo, behold!
great Christmas lights:
the soldier's boots
and blood-soaked garments
thrown like yule logs on the hearth.

For unto us a child is born--
from Jerusalem, Word of the LORD.
So re-gift your swords as plowshares,
your spears as pruning hooks.
Second Christmas will come second hand:
heav'n and earth unwrapped
(laid bare)
the kosmos given second birth.

They Need No Candle, Neither Light of the Sun; for the Lord God Giveth Them Light

O LORD, thou sole
(not solar)
deity,
who shone none-light 
into the void,
set this sun aside
and make your face to shine
anew upon us:
heav'n and earth.

Late-Autumn Love Song (Capo #2)

  G                                 C

I wish they hadn’t raked up all the leaves;

                      G        C

now I have to buy you flowers.

G                        C                             G       C 

Flowers are clichéd, but leaves just say the darnedest things.

G                                  D              G

A leaf can say “I love you,” and, “I think you’re neat,”

G                            D            G

“You’re my little lady,” and everything between.

  G                                 C

I wish they hadn’t raked up all the leaves;

D                  G       C D

flowers just don’t crunch.

  G                                 C

I wish they hadn’t raked up all the leaves;

                      G        C

now I have to buy you flowers.

G                        C                             G     C

Flowers are clichéd, but leaves would make the perfect gift.

G                      D             G

Love is like the maple with many leaves to give

G                           D               G

and little helicopters that spin around and twist.

  G                                 C

I wish they hadn’t raked up all the leaves;

D                  G       C D

flowers just don’t crunch.

  G                                 C

I wish they hadn’t raked up all the leaves;

                      G        C

now I have to buy you flowers.

G                        C                         G     C

Flowers are clichéd, but leaves have got the right idea.

G                         D                G

Love may seem to fade and fall off of the trees,

G                                D                 G

but it comes again in season, bright and fresh and green.

  G                                 C

I wish they hadn’t raked up all the leaves;

D                  G       C D

flowers just don’t crunch.

Is It Christmas Even? (Capo #5)

    G                          C              G

The sun has long gone down and nestled in its bed

           C               G

but in the morning will be here again

            C               Am

to wrap its rays around the Savior’s head.

G                               C              G

When that day repeats—when it’s Christmastime again

    C                  G

the Savior’s face puts forth the flames

       C          Am

that illuminate Jerusalem.

G                    C                  G

Sinners come inside. Nations bring your gifts.

       C                      G

Follow Old Saint Nick and the three wise men:

        C                Am

they’ll show you what contrition is.

       G                              C             G

As the mistletoe hangs low, you stand waiting for a kiss.

         C                G

Remember heaven will come down like this,

    C              Am                  G

and every day will feel like Christmas day.

Know Ye Not, That So Many of Us as Were Baptized into Jesus Christ Were Baptized into His Death

O ye of little Reformed faith
(who step out on the Galilee)
when Peter sank beneath the waves
who grabbed whom from raging sea?

One of Them Shall Not Fall on the Ground Without Your Father; or, Chemotherapy-Induced Stigmata

My hairs are numbered
(O Lord, are you still counting?)
like sparrows falling.

Behold Now Behemoth, Which I Made with Thee

Live! and move! and have your being!
yester-beasts who Sheol roam--
though fossilized
(not finalized)
for the Lord makes flesh
from dried-up bone
and calls forth song
from silent stone.
If wolf and leopard, lion, lie,
much more surely raptor finds its home.
For on that day, when death has been,
what remains to fear Leviathan?

Witness Protection

Satan, prowl,
thou lion lost in fog
(cloud-of-witnesses encompassed)
seeking those whom
you may not devour.

Lo, there is no Saul,
but Paul;
no Simon,
only Cephas;
no James, no John,
just Boanerges.

Fell Satan,
you'll not find
Mathew
wrapped in rags
(like carrion tattered)
but some new-named thing
in raiment white.

Medlar

Behold!
the first-and-last-fruit
of the resurrection:
He that liveth, and was dead.

Blet out our transgressions, Lord
(this pome-de-terre bound to decay)
for even rotten to the core
the dead in Christ will ripe.

Upon Whom Thou Shalt See the Spirit Descending, and Remaining on Him, the Same Is He Which Baptizeth with Holy Ghost

The Spirit hovered o'er the deep
like Noah's dove
never descending
until dry ground appeared--
gathered dust, Word become flesh.

Bonsai

Leafy-branch cuttings
littering Jerusalem--
made to grow anew.

Neither Shall All Flesh Be Cut off Any More by the Waters of a Flood

The seventh angel sounds:
lightning, thunder, earthquakes, hail.
Yet, behold! the ark of covenant--
arc-en-ciel the covenant.
Nevermore the LORD will raze,
but raise,
new heav'n and earth.

The Sign of Ashes

To dust! for by the sweat of His face we shall eat bread—

we raise this cup of wine, (with ashen brow) His Body broken.

Ye Have Heard That It Hath Been Said

An eye for an eye, teeth for teeth--
a buy-one-get-one special on cheeks.