closer

out of the blue she asked,
who do you miss most?
then she told me about her grandma
and how she was her favourite.

then i realised that i always knew who i missed most
i knew what she meant when she said
every corner you turn, every action, every word
hides a cutting longing that reminds you of loss
of the one you loved most and miss most

and i knew i’ve hidden it too far at the back of my mind
the thought that i might lose him
how can i think about
my grandpa
without thinking too of He who is big enough
to hold us all and keep us in His love?

lamp of the body

Look down from a broken sky
Traced out by the city lights
My world from a mile high
Best seat in the house tonight
Touch down on the cold black top
Hold on for the sudden stop
Breathe in the familiar shock
Of confusion and chaos
All those people going somewhere
Why have I never cared

Chorus:
Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken-hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see

Step out on a busy street
See a girl and our eyes meet
Does her best to smile at me
To hide what’s underneath
There’s a man just to her right
Black suit and a bright red tie
Too ashamed to tell his wife
He’s out of work, he’s buying time
All those people going somewhere
Why have I never cared

Chorus
I’ve been here a million times
A couple of million eyes
Just move and pass me by
I swear I never thought that I was wrong
Well, I want a second glance
So give me a second chance
To see the way You’ve seen the people all along

-Brandon Heath

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”

This is from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, one of the favourite authors of one of my favourite teachers. And fittingly so, for this is, in a way, how i see teaching.

tint

Black is a silent colour.
Blue waves,
Yellow yells,
Pink blushes,
and green stays.
Red points,
brown stews,
Purple ponders,
and white smiles.
But black is a silent colour;
it does not gesture.

You come to me in black
and I wonder:
What colour do you see?

the quiet world

we did a really interesting poetry exercise in class the other day, and this was the poem-offering that jasmine made to our poetry chair, that pagan god that Dr W made of the centre of our pow-wow literary ring.

in an effort to get people to look
into each other’s eyes more
the government has decided to allot
each person exactly one hundred
and sixty-seven words, per day.

when the phone rings, i put it
to my ear without saying hello.
in the restaurant i point
at chicken noodle soup. i am
adjusting well to the new way.

late at night, i call my long-
distance lover and proudly say:
i only used fifty-nine today.
i saved the rest for you.

when she doesn’t respond, i know
she’s used up all her words,
so i slowly whisper i love you,
thirty-two and a third times.
after that, we just sit on the line
and listen to each other breathe.

-Jeffrey MacDaniel

someday i’ll die and
they’ll still not know me,
but that’s fine –
if only they would know Him.