"When You Entered In"

    They said there's one who'll make life brighter,
        If you but wait on God's good timing.
   "Trust us" they whispered to my waiting heart,
           "Every cloud has a silver lining"
 
                  But when you entered in,
         There was much more than a rosy hue,
          Such an explosion of light and color,
           The very sky forgot it was blue!
                     I had known joy before,
              But it was the bud not the bloom,
                    Now it is open and full,
         Flooding my heart with sweet perfume.

                   Not just the silvery edge,
        You make all the clouds seem like gold!
        I wonder they never said it was like this,
       But would I believed them if they had told?
                              

"The Moon"

    The moon is made of dust like me,
       And yet it shines luminously.
       It is itself no source of light,
      And yet it is the guide of night.

      What joy to be so pure within,
    Cleansed by the blood from all sin,
    That I may reflect my Savior's face,
     And shine brilliantly in His grace!

"If Youth Be a Veil"

                 If youth be a veil,
   Wilt thou love me when it is lifted?
  When time's sure hand and every care
             Hath my beauty sifted?
     Today, it beckons a tender sigh,
     But of tomorrow, I cannot dream
  That even should the shadow remain
    It be more than a nostalgic gleam.
      Your love, should it prove true,
       Is the only beauty I can retain,
       And I wait, breathless and still
         To wonder if it shall remain…
                            ~2015

"Memories"

           I yearn for things I used to know,
             And places I can no longer go.
       I no longer walk remembered ground,
        Nor catch a strain of familiar sound.
        And it gives an ache I cannot feel,
       A vague discomfort that is barely real.
   How memories knit themselves to my bones,
   And echo through me with bittersweet tones.
       Sometimes I let them have their sway,
           But usually I chase them far away.
   For I am too happy to be troubled with gloom.
 And surely all present things are memories soon.
 So, here's a kiss to the future, the present, the past.
      For all three shall end as memories at last.
                                       ~2015

"The Hour Before the Day"

           Oh,  Jesus, I need thee,

      To be my sweet rest and stay,

          To keep and uphold me,

        In this hour before the day.

           I see the light arising, 

           How beautiful it looks!

       But of the scene around me,

           It still in shadow lurks.

       Tis useless to strain my eyes,

      I'm engulfed in purple and blue,

        But when I turn to the skies,

        I peacefully remember you.

     You are not blinded by darkness,

             All before you is light.

    And while for a moment I see less,

    What loose I by trusting your sight?

        No, no, I will not doubt thee,

       Though I go perpetually blind.

       Thy hand forever will guide me,

  And thy love shall be light to my mind.

                                ~2011

"Hymn of the Heavenly Dawn"

             Let youth fade and beauty flee,
          Only let me draw nearer to eternity.
           Hinder me not, trouble and strife,

          As though weighty in this brief life.
   My dawn draws near, the night is near spent,
     Oh, dust, receive back the little you lent.

         To the glorious heavens quickly I go,

   How mighty the land I henceforth shall know.

  And if lingered a thought of the life that I leave,
 It dropped when I saw Him, arms open to receive!

                                       ~2011