Tag: Sacred Poetry

You Awake My Soul

I sought the Lord and He answered me
In the highest heavens
I sought the Lord and He answered me
From His holy hill
I sought the Lord and He answered me
In His sanctuary
I sought the Lord and He answered me
When my heart was still

(And the chorus goes:)
You awake my soul when You answer me
You turn my tears into laughter
You awake my soul when You answer me
And all my sicknesses are healed
You awake my soul when You answer me
You turn my sorrows into dancing
You awake my soul when You answer me
When my heart is still

(Back to the verse:)
I sought the Lord and He answered me
In the midst of all my enemies
I sought the Lord and He answered me
In my valley’s deepest darkness
I sought the Lord and He answered me
At the end of all my options
I sought the Lord and He answered me
When my heart was still

I Believe in You

My love leads me to dissipation: I
Lie listless, moping, thinking how I would
Surround you with my arms and lay my head
Upon your breast and watch the clouds obscure
The sun, which then obscures the stars. My day’s
Work lies beside me, rotting, left untouched,
Untended, as I tend to you and balk
At all the things I thought I loved when I
Imagined you, but would not trust in God.

I could not make myself believe in you.

Your love outshines me: I cannot compete
With everything you’ve given me—yet I
Refuse to be so easily undone.
Your love is pearl, and mine is steel—a love
That’s common, though refined, but does not seem
To match the ornament that I would like
To grasp. But I will beat this iron till I
Can call it something rare, which may be said
Competes with silver. Call the alchemists!
If what was once called gold is lead, it can
Be changed again. So I will prove my love’s
As good as yours.
It’s not impossible.
New elements have been unearthed before,
And compounds thought incredible have been
Found preexisting in a natural state.
Then cannot this new element that is
Between us be compounded naturally?

I will not say it is impossible,
For I believed in God and found in you
What I imagined.

I believe in you

There Is a Place

There is a place
Beyond the edge of morning
Where words mean more
Than ordinary things
There’s the place
Where tomorrow has no meaning
And I can go
To dream and dream and dream

A place beyond my worries
Where I don’t have to care
A place beyond mere happiness
A place beyond mere fear
A place where I can listen
To my own heart beating
And know that someone else
Is very near

Lovesick

There is no one who is beautiful enough
To fit the needs of someone
Who has looked too long at You.
Why do I keep looking out for love
When I know that there is no one
Who’s as wonderful as You?

Lord, bind my heart in brokenness
Stir me on to peace
Wrap me up in linen, that I may
Resign myself to living
Here with You forever
Loving no one else but You

I have given myself over
To the mercy of your hand
If you have seen the way that Love has gone
Lead me to that Rock that’s Higher

That I too may be poured out
as a drink offering to You
Fresh blood mixed with the water of my tears
I am broken… for love
I am living… for You
You are what I’m living for, my Love

Keep my wandring heart from looking
To the left or to the right
Wrap my heart in brokenness that I may
See my love tonight
You are . . . what I . . . long for
Every . . . time I . . . close my . . . eyes

Keep me patient as I wait for you, my love

I Was Born For This

I was born for the sake of running
That my footbeats would fall to the sound of Your rhythm
I was born for the sake of breathing
That I could send Your wind
I was born for the sake of living

That my crystal heart could shine
With the candle that You set burning
That every heartbeat would pulsate
With living fire

The glory of God has come
I was born for this

Random Thoughts of Joy

building burdens on our own backs
we groan under distressing weight
till someone comes and takes it from us
we do not know where we have been

Sitting dismayed at the sacrifice
required to enter in
We weep when we do not realize
Someone’s already been

What I must give up
Is what is not good for me
What I must at all costs carry
is the gold I do not recognize

Nothing strains like the burden
of a backward vision
My life would be joy for me
if I could get my world turned right

God grant me grace
to see my own sinning
my problem is not my pain
but my misapprehension

*The whole earth is filled
With the Glory of God*
-Is 6:3