SOLDIER

The soldier is the priest

Of America in uniform

Carrying the conscience

Attracting the attentive

Admiration off passers by

Doors generously open

Food laid out abundantly

Special space reserved

Welcome home from war

To the peace of Christmas

The excited nervous pride

Laying down his confident

Clean-cut life in the bed

Of his childhood passed

Where he sleeps alone

And no one is able to know

Or hold in consolation

The terror of his nightmares

DARK NIGHT

Is this the dark

Night of faith?

Believing

Without seeing

The point

Persevering in practiced

Devotion when feeling

Has gone

I can say I know

I know I can say

God is there

Here I am

A dark open

Space of sky

Without filter or shield

Waiting for Love’s

Completion

And my appetite

Will not be satisfied

With false presentation

Or fake representation

The one who speaks

Of God

Must now be as Moses

Translucent Christ

That light may shine

Through

And through me

In all that I am

I who know no other

Reason for being

ELIJAH (Another November)

With its breath held quietly 
And lingered leaves

Holding on 

Till the first
Breeze blew

Fluttering them lightly
Through the air and clouds
Of swarming swallows
Swooping

Whirlwinded on the garden
Path never touching down
Until the rain made them
Too heavy for flight

A solitary one alighting 
On Elijah's hand
Entrance to the cave

The still small voice
Sheer silence

The awesome consequence
Of the encounter of all things

To rest upon the soil
Composting into earth

Making new growth possible
For another