The tangle of roots in mud and clay
hold the impossible height
swaying above the rooftops.
I burrow down in what’s left
of imagination, clawing through
wires and pipes to the soil past grief,
finding a grip in the broken clods
of thankfulness
to recall your face, your name,
the years when strength was real.
I fought the greater force and lost
though you’d never tell by the smile
I wear like a medal of honor
from the wars of insanity.
Grace can be forgotten
but the slender threads
of love’s splendid garment,
torn and spoiled with mud
will not be undone.
With arthritic hands
I reach out in morning light,
caress the dawn as it gifts the sky.
Scatter my ashes below the evergreen,
let me be food for the gnarl of roots
and from the darkest earth let me rise,
let me rise.
photograph by Louis MacKenzie
Reading of “Words of the Disciple” with music by Van Morrison.
This poem takes my breath away… too powerful for a comment!
With Love & Honor…
Yes….
Don – WOW! Powerful imagary and beautfiul flow. This captures so much!
Don, I would say you came through those wars of insanity pretty well. (Wars of insanity? No doubt some episodes of litigation with lawyers making days unbearable.). I also notice you are working Lou McKenzie hard on the photography requirements. He is up to it.
Lovely…💜
Breathtaking… Thank you…
Very powerful and evocative!
Thank you for this beautiful, very powerful poem. It is just what I needed today. “The slender threads of love’s splendid garment, torn & spoiled with mud, will not be undone.” Love is what will let all of us rise. Amen.
This life’s journey is why you fully are anointed as a brother in arms.
Love is the only answer.
I feel you, your depth of passion, in this. Selah.
Thank you, Don. The slender threads of love’s splendid garment will not be undone. Ever. That makes me smile, too. Love.
Breathing in your gifts so many I am renewed thru Loves sharing… Thank you.
I see and feel the tangle you speak of in this powerful poem. I dig deep into myself with every tool I have, and like a boar digging for roots, I break open the earth of my soul and I find peace and love. Thank you, Don for this thought-provoking exercise!
Don…may we all rise from the darkest earth……
This one, I am not surprised to see the string of Comments on this one. A deep in the mud and glory poem.
Don, your words here are deeply moving to me, and are, I suspect, a specific reference to your personal life journey. I wish you healing and love, Ronnie
I like these lines very much Don:
“I fought the greater force and lost
though you’d never tell by the smile
I wear like a medal of honor
from the wars of insanity.”
What a way to win! Losing to the greater force is to win it all. Sanity at last!
He that looseth his life to the greater force shall find it.
Now that is something to smile about!