Easter Haiku 6

The sky became black

One parental bond broken

Ours fixed forever

The Burning Bush

Your fire burns in me

The flames engulfing my heart

No darkness can quench what You’ve started

It burns brighter and brighter every day

 

The bush was set on fire but it was not burnt up

You do not take pride in destruction

Likewise, Your flames do not harm us

They bring about a new beginning

 

Like gold You purify us

Our deeply embedded sin You separate out of us

You kindle a fury against this world’s injustice

And we go out like blazing torches

Rebuild Haiku

Shaken to the core

Our crumbling foundations

Words of hope rebuild

The Canyon

The canyon stretches for miles

A savage stab wound in the earth

Its path is punctuated with decorations

Piles of dry bones and stacks of skulls

Death marks out its domain

 

Once in its deep trench

There is no climbing out

It is a cesspit that sucks away all life

The echoing silence the warning siren

That living things should not come here

 

A lone traveller walks through

Well aware of the dangers

He carries nothing but a shovel

The canyon bares its jaws wide at this morsel

But there is no fear in his step

 

He begins to dig with his shovel

Hammering the ground with all his might

The sound echoing in the vastness

Vultures descend as if to mock

But he will not give up

 

The traveller hits the deep springs below

And water begins to flow

As they do the sky darkens above

Storm clouds summoned in by his hard work

This canyon is about to change forever

 

The water flows and flows

Washing away the old skeletons

Cleansing it from its torrid past

So that this canyon, once of dust and decay,

Now erupts into a carpet of green

 

Psalm 84:5-6 – “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose heart is set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools.”

Lost

Cold was the light of the stars

As the bitter winds whipped through the open fields

I was a lone tree on an empty moor

Exposed to the wickedness of the dark

 

I said that I knew the way back

I said that I knew better

My proud heart had poisoned my well of trust

And now I drank its bitter gall

 

Fear stalked me as I walked

Its foul breath on the back of my neck

Its tendrils reached out to grab me

To squeeze and shake me like a rag doll

 

My hands shook as I typed the number

I did not know if it was the cold or the terror

It rang once and then twice

Each ring feeling like an eternity

 

“Hello?”

I choked back the lump in my throat

And the pride in my heart

And I asked for help

 

“Lord my God, I called to you for help and you healed me.” Psalm 30:2

Torch of Hope

My heart was dark and damp

Rocked by violent storms

The water seeped in through the cracks

My dreams turned to dust

 

The furnace that once burned bright

Now lay stark and empty

But no heart is too far for my God

He lit a flame of hope in me

 

My pen strikes the paper

And that same flame ignites

Its embers glowing in every word

Its fragrance rising from every page

 

If I can pass on this flame

Even if it is to only one person

Then I will have done more

Than I could have dared imagine

Hope Haiku 2

A blackened vision

The void of hope left empty

Life can come from ash

Cracked Pots

Shattered pieces

Shards of clay

Life has handled us roughly

The once smooth texture

Now riddled with a thousand cracks

 

Damaged goods

Too far gone

We slide to the back of the shelf

Hide ourselves behind the unbroken pots

And we give up on ourselves

 

But He doesn’t

He searches in the shadows

For those who hide

For those whose confidence has shattered

To bring restoration and to bring new hope

 

Cracks of shame

Filled with the clay of grace

Old scars of torment

Now our tale of redemption

We step forward

Back into the light