My Little Ballerina

Tiny pink wisp,
Full of turns and twists,
Earnestly leaping,
Artfully creeping
Right into my heart.

©2011 Bob Mason

Closer

Did you feel the lurch
As the earth sped up
Giving extra juice to spin doctors
Accelerating the urgency
Of a shortened day?

Did it jar you
To watch endless footage
Of sloshing yachts in Santa Cruz
While across the sea it was people
Being churned and battered in that miserable soup?

Even as we waited
For their tragedy to lap at our shores
They came closer
By thirteen feet.

©2011 Bob Mason

Simultaneity

Do you ever wish to be God,
Making all the laws,
Claiming first cause,
Even putting time on pause?

No, you don’t really want that job, do you?
Seeing,
Feeling,
Hearing,
Smelling,
And even tasting
       . . . everything
              . . . all together
                         . . . NOW.

©2011 Bob Mason

The Selfishness in Me

The selfishness in me finds the selfishness in you.
It’s always on patrol watching everything you do.
I don’t even have to try; you know it’s always true.
The selfishness in me finds the selfishness in you.

When I don’t get what I want,
‘Cause you went for what you want,
My ‘righteous indignation’
Is really aggravation.

The disappointed look,
The quotation of Scripture,
Simply the muted evidence
That my inner child has thrown a tantrum.

©2010 Bob Mason

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?

It can be so hard to sort my motivations. Too many times what I think I do for 'righteousness' turns out to stem from another agenda.
I need help! Thank God, I have it . . . Him.

Cutiful

There is beauty
That widens the eyes
And paralyzes the face
Distanced by splendor and awe.

Then there is beauty
That widens the smile
And wrinkles the eyes
Drawn with laughter and joy.

©2010 Bob Mason

I thought I heard our little Missy say ‘cutiful’ today, when we were in our car in front of Harbor Freight Tools. I was mistaken, but nonetheless the appropriate association was obvious.

Ring (September 11)

Ring . . . ring . . . ring.
The bell resonates at the frequency of my soul,
Somehow shaking loose
          The tears I had managed to control.
Liberty, sweet liberty vibrates through the cold,
Melting and crumbling the walls that had tried to hold,
Emotions that trembled and then rolled
Down my cheek.

©2001 Bob Mason
 

I was moved and inspired as I heard a bell ringing on my radio, as NPR tried to express what was happening--it was either September 11, 2001 or the day after. I had watched live on television as the towers crumbled, numb and in shock. The ring of the bell released what I was feeling.

Where Strength Lies

“Go and change the world,” said Jesus,
Didn’t He?
“So we must we will,” said Peter,
Pitiably
Twelve to One hundred and fifty to make things new -
        sea change wrought by chosen few.

The task looms huge before them.
        - an empire ruled by might and war.
        - an empire fraught with sin and more.
“Clearly to succeed, we must meet might with might!”
“Clearly, to proceed, we must enforce the right!”
        With sword - for sword rules in this awful age,
        With men empow’red with righteous rage.

Stealing softly on the wind,
        A different voice comes pressing in.
Echoes ring in Peter’s ear.
        A truth once heard advances near.

                If my kingdom were of this world,
                        then would my servants fight. (John 18:36)
                All they that take the sword
                        shall perish with the sword. (Mt. 26:52)

“How then, Lord, must your cause prevail?”
“How then stand, as foes assail?”

                Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,
                         saith the Lord of hosts. (Zech. 4:6)

All other strength
                               Lies.

©1994 Bob Mason