AUTHOR
I have nothing new to say. The world is so terribly big, it keeps spinning and shaking loose all my constants and making me see that the sun has been burning too long to have not shed it’s light in every direction.
All I know is that beautiful in me is You. Every good thing and every true thing, beautiful in me is You
I see a thousand young men, they’re all marching in time with war on their doorsteps and their lovers behind them, and all of their glory flows back to their master but they care not for honor for they wear his garments.
I’m tired of striving to be, who You already say that I am. I am Yours.
Take what You need to take, say what You need to say to make me who I am meant to
be, You can have it all.
LOWER STILL
Look, He’s covered in dirt, and the blood of His mother has mixed with the earth, and she’s just a child who’s throbbing in pain from the terror of birth by the light of a cave.
Now they’ve laid the small Baby where creatures come eat like a meal for the swine who have no clue that He is still holding together the world that they see, they don’t know just how low, but He has to go lower still.
Look, now He’s kneeling, He’s washing their feet! Though they’re all filthy fisherman, traitors, and thieves. Now He’s pouring his heart out and they’re falling asleep,
but He has to go lower still.
(and we all said in unison…)
There is greater love to show!
Hands to the plow!
Further down now!
Blood must flow!
All these steps are personal!
All His shame is ransom!
Oh do you see? Do you see just how low He has come? Do you see it now?
No one takes from Him. You can’t take what he freely gives away.
Beat in His face; tear the skin of His back. Lower Still
Strip off His clothes; make Him crawl through the streets. Lower Still
Hang Him like meat on a criminal’s tree. Lower Still!
Bury His corpse in the earth like a seed. Lower Still!
Lower Still, Lower Still, Lower Still, Lower Still.
The earth explodes, she cannot hold Him.
And all therein is placed beneath Him.
And death itself no longer reigns, it cannot keep the ones He gave Himself to save.
And as the universe shatters, the darkness dissolves, He alone will be honored we will bathe in his splendor as
ALL HEADS BOW LOWER STILL
LASHES
A storm is approaching. I know cause I called it on. I’ll catch up lovers in my wake that I’ll consume and throw away, because there’s no woman I could love more than myself.
And that’s why I still sleep alone.
Good G-d I’m so empty now but no one found out and I never touched her. But I’m trusting less in my defense if there’s no difference in the things that happen in my head and happen in my bed. Oh G-d….
I’m shaking like a leaf.
For twenty-seven years now I’ve been waiting. For twenty-seven years now I’ve been keeping my end. But every single gift I ever gave You was just a bribe so I could get You to give me what I wanted. It’s all kisses and silver. I never cared for innocence, just the appearance.
If only You’d wash me because I can’t see the stains.
My G-d, I am so scared because I’m fractured but I don’t feel the breaks.
Have I loved too many daughters to ever be whole?
I’m ashamed that You love me.
Please send grace to the hearts that I stole.
RICH
There’s a country that no one has found yet. But somehow I seem to know a lot about it.
And there’s a melody, that no one has sung yet. It’s faint, but I can hear it echoing.
I’ve never been alone but I‘ve never felt at home. Isn’t it strange that everyone feels this?
Try and name it, try to forget, there is something more that I desire but I cannot become yet. Still I’m haunted, when I feel the ache of a thousand joys that show me home but never let me stay.
I have sailed across the sea I’ve seen the ocean floor, but I cannot become the tide and battle with the shore. I know there must be something more. I can feel the winds are rushing, I hear them in trees, but I cannot rage through the sky and wrestle with the leaves. But I’ve heard that this wont always be….
Someday soon we shall put on the sun
Not the one we see, that’s just a sketch of what’s to come
Earth and sky are coming to their end
We will wear the glory they had only hinted at
I have sailed across the sea I’ve seen the ocean floor, but I cannot become the tide and battle with the shore. I’ve always known there was something more! I can feel the winds are rushing, I hear them in trees, but I cannot rage through the sky and wrestle with the leaves. And I know that it wont always be this way!
PATIENCE AND SILENCE
I’ve never had the spine I lead them to believe, the devil born in me feeds me lies. He creeps into my mind and spreads confusion until I’m left with fear of what could be and doubt of what has been.
Truth be told, I’d rather not know, it’s so much easier to quit, it’s just so easy not to care. Truth be told, I’d rather not go, I want to run away and never come back again.
If all the world should come against me, I’d like to think that I could stand but I’m not always sure they don’t have Your hand.
But You’re the only one to fear because You’re the only one who loves me as I am.
I just need to remember that time you told me…
Patience and silence, I alone am your Defender and your Judge.
Peace be still
SOUND AND FURY
As the blood flows from between your teeth and your eyes recoil from the thing they’ve seen, your feet take root and your body goes stiff and now you’ve collapsed into a pile on the broken cement. And your mirror image brother can’t stop screaming your name, he knows you saw something and he’s slapping your face. We both ran down the street to do what we could, we tried to hold up your head, “Just wake up!” But you were hissing and moaning, Oh God you looked lonely….
Take all your fury and throw it into the wind.
Your fire’s burning but it’s waning, you were barely just born and you’ll soon be dead.
Quick! Tear your kingdom down you’ve built it on another’s field.
He is a ruthless man, he’ll let you build before he steals.
And you will never know you weren’t a king until your limbs are firmly fastened in their chains.
What did you see?
I think I know. You can’t keep living in shadows and not belong to the darkness
So take all your fury and give it all to the King. Our time is ending, war is coming, and we’re all choosing sides. We’re all going to bow either way.
POUR
G-d, save us from our good intentions. What you meant to be organic we’ve refined into an engine. We call it progress but we forget that even water is poison if you breathe it.
Just how much can we love when we’re spread so thin?
Where are the naked prophets? Where are their harlot wives?
How can the spirit move when His body parts don’t coincide?
These times are complicated so we compartmentalize, there are few burdens shared just seldom intersecting lives…
Satan came and offered up the kingdom whole,
Messiah refused then took it man by man.
Pharisees thought he would topple empires
but he changed the world by caring for men, not the systems they create.
Temples for the temples?
Systems for the Spirit?
We became the temples so let’s build each other.
Could we hear the Spirit if we just lived simpler?
Everybody go and grab your neighbors! Let’s all sink our roots and see a harvest! Nobody alive has all the answers, but Abba bears the load when love is hard!
ASHES
He saw it burn but not away. He saw no ash but felt the heat on his face. If there was ever any hope that we could stand on our own, it was crushed by what he saw on that mountain.
The glory of the latter house is much greater than the former one and it was never in the structure but the Builder himself and nothing will remain forever if it’s not made new again.
I remember that not every rain stops falling down when the earth is nourished.
I can see now that not every flame is kept steady burning till the wood is ash.
I’m not going to make it if You don’t remake me.
No, I won’t ever make it unless You remake me.
I’ll carry Grace like a flame. Only You can refine. Perfect! Perfect!
Find in me the things to stay
Burn us bright but not away
Strip away all that remains
Burn us bright but not away
FURTHER UP/ FURTHER IN
Last year, for just one moment You came near as time stood still, and You crushed my wits. The hairs on my neck all stood stiff, everything made sense, there was not one rift in anything I could see. You were the only thing I could see.
I hear whispers
Come away, come away, come away, my love…
You sound closer
Come away, come away, come away, my love…
Joy weakens me like a wound. Oh You’re coming closer and it’s hard to take in that I have wasted so much fear and devotion. But there’s no time left for my regrets when You’re calling.
In my dreams we throw all the mountains into the sea. There’s no distance left, we all coalesce and sprint across the peaks. We have no blood to bleed andwe need no sun to see. Time is dead, death has passed, the past is banished and forgotten.
Long live the King!
I hear whispers
Come away, come away, come away, my love…
You sound closer
Come away, come away, come away, my love…
Joy weakens me like a wound. Oh You’re coming closer and it’s hard to take in that I have wasted so much fear and devotion. But there’s no time left for my regrets when You’re calling me beloved.
I know that You promised You would make us a home. You said You’d come soon but it’s been so long. It’s hard to be patient, when I feel You come close.
But I must remember that Your ways are different.
You call all times soon
I hear whispers
Come away, come away, come away, my love…
You sound closer
Come away, come away, come away, my love…
PERFECTOR
For our friend, Dave, who is now with his Perfector.
I’m still a young man so I think very little of death, but who really does till it’s coming for them? And I know with each breath I come one closer, but death is just a hook behind the door where I’ll leave my dirty clothes…
They may dump my body in the sea or spread my ashes miles wide but it won’t matter, all my parts will realign. They will rush to find each other when they hear their Lover’s cry and death will be abandoned when He comes back for His bride!
Saints are never buried, they are seeds planted who bring about a greater harvest when they burst forth from the earth that needed their fruits but could never hope to make enough room for their roots.
Death is swallowed up, it owns nothing in me!
Precious in the sight of the lord is the death of his faithful ones!
Death has been swallowed up!
Oh it was always You!