behold, a new blog name...

Okay, so I was getting self-conscious about the lameness of my self titled blog... This new title is actually the name of a poem I've written recently, which I guess I will post on here so you know where it came from.

Touch Belief

Within the spacious folds of time
Below the broken mountains’ rumbling
Mankind, for all their wisdom climb
not...
but crawl through darkness stumbling.
An iron grate conceals their shame
While beneath, the weary worker paves
And though each tombstone bears a deep-etched name
Oak trees grow upon their graves.

For not by wisdom owned or taken,
Do the lofty sages swear.
Nor before a fleeting phantom
Would honest lovers’ hearts lay bare.

A seed of faith weighs in the balance
Pensive, with no thought of time lost pondering,
Captive thoughts in darkness ravished
Brought back through endless days of wandering
A breath of hope to parch a desert of longing
Grasped at by starving claws unprepared
Fleeting, contagious, the life’s blood of nations
Brandished on banners, by kings proudly bared

But faith is presumption, hope ignorance’ dream
If not guided and guarded and gained from above
For as thoughts without actions are waves without oceans
Life’s measure and weight must be balanced with love.

(c) A. S. G.

picture (c) Joshua Greenplate.

"All things may change"

A thousand silver ships have sailed a thousand silver seas,
and hosts of saintly lips sang songs suspended in the breeze.
Prodigals one day regret their foolish fall from grace,
while sweet expressions briefly paint the most suppressive face.
Mighty trees make music on their slow determined climb,
mocking mans' futility, our mindless march through time.
The waves of every ocean join to crash upon the sand,
while soldiers blindly follow every officers' command.
A runner's starting steps are vindicated by his last,
and bright potential futures can be squandered by their past.
Because a thousand golden ghosts can haunt a thousand gloomy graves,
while captains on their silver ships must stand and face the waves.
For nothing here created will forever be the same,
and everything that's wild can in time be rendered tame.
The chain that binds the captive's feet will one day turn to rust,
and this tranquil world's a raging fire beneath it's fragile crust.
Warm rain that falls in summer is the winter's fiercest ice,
as fortunes made with toil can be lost on rolling dice.
The lips that sang the morning's praise will grace tomorrow's dust,
and souls who once betray you may cross oceans for your trust.
Not hopes, nor fears, nor fallen tears, nor footprints in the sand,
will endure the test of time, but by God's grace we stand.

(c) A.s.G.

Poetry from Jeremiah

I recently taught the books of Jeremiah and Lamentations, this is a poem I've written to try and capture the timeless message Jeremiah has for the children of God.

Daughter Zion

Awake! Fix your eyes on me, daughter, my love.
Set your path on the statutes that come from above.
For the rain has poured down, behold, everything’s new,
Heaven and earth I made special for you.
When I saw you rejected me by what you’ve done,
I gave you new hope by the birth of my Son.
Miracles can happen as you, daughter, can see,
And all of your blessings come straight from me.
How long will you waver before doing what’s right?
It’s not hard, look to me my love; I’ll be your light.
For behold, I’ve created this new thing on earth,
My own death in a man, your new life at his birth.
Could I stand idly by and watch all I love fall,
Or remember their pain, and in turn, give it all?
And that’s what I did; I fixed all that you broke,
I rent heaven and earth and I lifted your yoke.
Clap your hands, sing aloud or the stones will cry out,
Oh, my heart skips a beat at the sound of your shout.
For I’ve done all these things so you might have a clue,
All I want in this world is to spend time with you.