Greater Love

I did not know you heard me
When I cried out in the night,
I did not know you answered
For I couldn’t see the light;

I did not know you held me
When my friends all let me down,
I did not know you guarded
Where there was evil all around;

I did not know you guided
Through the darkness and the pain,
I did not know you cared,
That my tears were not in vane;

I did not know your angels
Brought me safely through the blaze,
I did not know I’d find you
At the center of the maze;

I did not know through all the years
You never left my side,
I did not know, but I know now
The reason that you died!

Dedication

For all the times you’ve dried my tears
and tucked me in at night.
For scaring away the “boogie man,”
and leaving on the light.

For all the times I lied to you
and went behind your back,
For all the times you told me “no”
and my hearing seemed to lack.

For all the words I said to you
I didn’t mean to say,
but couldn’t take them back because
my pride got in the way.

Now as I set out in life
I finally understand,
that I never would have made it
if you hadn’t held my hand.

And so I dedicate this poem
to you, my mom and dad,
I know how much you love me
because you gave me all you had.

1984

Sounding


In the utter depths of darkened silence,
Comes a haunting call that echoes round;
Over a million years of unchanged essence
The dwindling cries of the humpbacks sound.

With the mountains of ice that drift through the years
In the heart freezing waters that touch the sky,
Live the great gentle beasts that cry without tears,
And live only in fear of the harpooner’s cry.

The Gift

A woman once beheld a man
She knew could end her pain.
If she could only get his help
It would not be in vain.
She thought, “If I could hold his hand
I know this trial will end,
If I could only touch his cloak
My body then would mend.”
So weaving through the pressing crowd
His hem she gently brushed,
And when the man turned to his men
The crowd around him hushed.
“Someone here has touched my robe,”
His words were deep and clear;
And finding his eyes holding hers
She knelt down in fear.
Then with a smile of gentle love
He raised her to her feet;
Said, “Daughter by your faith are healed,”
And sent her down the street.

Now we don’t have to touch his clothes
When faced with pain and strife,
To feel the power of his love,
Or have eternal life.
A simple call brings Jesus near
He answers every one,
And by His grace will set you free
His gift for all who come.

Rebecca

An Italian sonnet

Mary’s Garden Sonnet


Like the others I stand in line;
A cockleshell adorns my dress.
To look at me no one could guess
My slippered feet are made of vine.
We drink the springtime rain like wine
And bloom a vision of loveliness;
Pawns standing in a game of chess,
There beauty second only to mine.

One day Mary came to our garden bed
To trim our fingers and smooth our gowns.
To capture my beauty I’m cut at the knee.
My screams she can’t hear, nor can she see
The stem she leaves will turn brittle and brown;
The maid she saved for tomorrow is dead.

Rebecca

The Seeker
Sometimes I hear
Inside my head
The silent screams
of a dying world.

Or maybe it's not
A world I hear
But a shattered heart
On the cold dark stone.

Soap Bubbles
The life we live is illusion
Nothing is what it seems
We keep turning round empty corners
Following soap bubble dreams.

Rebecca

Lifesong
A small brown bird who had no voice
Searched all his life to find a song.
But every note it tried to sing
Came out to harsh, or not at all.
Chasing a melody, just out of reach
It traveled far over many lands
Till one day waking, found itself alone
And the haunting music no longer the same.
In great dispair it lit on a limb
Then found to late it could not move.
A thin green needle had pierced it's breast
And pinned it tightly to its branches.
And as it's blood drained slowly down
It found the grail of it's lonely quest.
Lifting it's head it began to sing
A song of life and what it ment.
And as it's song drifted down on the evening breeze,
To touch the ears of every soul,
The world paused.....,
And held it's breath .....,
To hear the heartrending beauty,
If the Thorn Bird's song.
Rebecca

For Curtis

Curtis Lee Davis
01/26/89 to 12/01/90

I stand upon a frozen windy hill;
My body numb with cold I do not feel.

Within my heart is now an empty place
Where once there was a bright and smiling face.

His marker seems too tiny and so lost;
To have him back I’d pay whatever cost.

On Friday morning he would have been two.
This pain is so great, Dear God, what will I do?

01/22/91
Rebecca

Elementals


Bright sparkling stream,
gurgling and splashing,
leaping across stones;
for them the way is never closed.
Life is but a choice of paths.
Show me,
show me!

Leaves in the wind,
brown and brittle,
comparing summer notes:
sending forth their last messages.
Living holds no secrets for them.
Tell me,
tell me!

Cold icy wind,
cutting and chilling,
all seeing eyes:
visions of alternate lives.
Carrying millions of what could and will be.
Show me,
show me!

Comforting fire,
destructive protector,
warming hearth light:
flashing hits from the depths of magic.
It knows the words of power.
Tell me,
tell me!

Rebecca

For my dad who drown in 1994

At The Setting Of The Sun

Larry Wayne Franklin
08/30/39 to 11/11/94

How can you be gone
When your boat is in it’s place,
Lines and lures are put away
In your tackle box and case?

How can you be gone
When the time for work is done,
And your truck is at the shop
At the setting of the sun?

How can you be gone
When the holidays are near,
All the food is on the table
But your laughter I don’t hear?

How can you be gone
When it’s time for spring’s first green,
And we wait to hear the words
That describe your favorite scene?

But the words will not be spoken
And the holidays are sad,
Because the things we thought important
Are not the things we wish we had.

Now we’ll never know your footsteps
At the setting of the sun,
And your lines and lures are stored
Now your fishing days are done.

Rebecca

Sound and Fury

“Life is but a walking shadow, . . . full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
Act V, Scene 5, MacBeth by Shakespeare


Like mad MacBeth
shouting to the winds
I too cried out
into the endless nightmare.
The sound and fury of hopeless life,
of struggles and hardships, anguish and pain.
Even success goes down in failure
in the final moments
when death renders all,
as nothing.

But now that anthem of futile life
stands for hope
and bolstered faith.
The sound and fury of life on earth
only echoes the promise
of Heaven’s grace.
Standing upon the solid rock,
my eyes toward a higher realm,
I face the winds of death and destruction
with a spirit that sings of eternal life;
and the sound and fury,
signify . . .
nothing!

Rebecca

The Dark Knight

“…Yet acquiescently I did turn as he pointed,
neither pride nor hope rekindling at the end described,
so much as gladness that some end might be.”
Childe Roland To The Dark Tower Came
Robert Browning


I am Roland,
traveling toward a dark end,
knowing I will fail before I die.
My life spent searching for an end to this quest,
once ridden with hope and arrogance,
and honorable battle to find the answer
now ridding for an end to the search.
My question has no answer
and those who traveled before me
found only the ending failure,
or abandoned the quest for an honorless life.
But I am Roland!
My end has already been woven.
I will not quit!
I will ride on, without hope or illusion,
But with gallant honor,
ride boldly into the face of death.
“Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came.”

Homesick
I think what I miss most
is being able to see the stars;
the milky way glittering like ground glass
strewn over black velvet.
Here, I can see only the very brightest,
arranged in dot to dot pictures
on a flannel grey board.

The streetlights conglomerate
and reflect off the night
creating in the sky an eerie luminance
which hangs above the city
like the wick of a candle.

The constant sound of cars passing
overlap into a subliminal roar,
as the sun baked streets slowly cool
and release their heat into the sultry night.
Even in the deadest hours of darkness,
there is life . . .,
darting here . . .,
and there . . .,
like a cat . . .,
waiting for something to fall.

I miss too, the nights where the only sounds
were the wind whispering through the pines,
crickets chirping and bullfrog pulses,
and the occasional baying hound
in desperate pursuit of unseen prey,
chasing the night by a fragile trail of scent.

The moon shimmering like polished silver
and casting blue shadows in the iridescent light.
And every now and then,
It seemed the world would pause for breath,
and the only sound was a roar of silence.
No wind stirred the leaves as night creatures froze,
the moon was wrapped in a blanket of black,
and there was only dead darkness.

Then the porch swing creaked,
the cloud passed on,and the world once again came to life

A Voice In The Darkness


God,
Do you hear me
When I cry out in the night?
Will you wipe away the tears
And lead me out into the light?
Yes child,
I hear you,
Even words you never say,
And when the final trumpet blows
Night will be as bright as day.

Tell me God,
Do you see
All the misery and strife?
Do you see this dark abyss
Where I seem to spend my life?
Yes my child,
I see you
As you sink in earthly sand,
But in weakness I am strong
If you’ll only hold my hand.

Oh God,
Do you speak
When there’s silence all around,
And only lonely echoes
Of a love that can’t be found?
Oh yes child,
I speak,
To many hearts I call:
And you are never all alone,’
For I’ve the greatest love of all.

Lord,
Do you taste
The salty tang of endless tears?
Do you know the bitter rage
And the pain of empty years?
Oh yes my child,
I’ve tasted,
Tears for those who lost the way:
For all who do not heed the call,
And for the garden gone astray.

Dear God,
Do you feel
All the helplessness and fear?
Do you know of all the heartache,
Of the loss of those held dear?
Yes my child,
I’ve felt
All the angry grief of loss,
For I had to turn away
While my son died on a cross.

Father,
Do you know
Of the darkness deep inside:
Of the narrow path I walk,
Endless pits on either side?
My dearest child,
I do know,
I allowed for them to be.
To keep you on the path
That will always lead to me.

And so my child,
Do you now see?
I love you most of all:
For I sacrificed my only son
To hear you when you call.
That in the dark
When all seems lost,
And you call out to the night,
With saving grace a voice will come
Turning darkness into light.