I Am Of

I am of the hills

Where division of land and sea and sky remains unsettled,

Where curves define all boundaries,

And the kingdom of plants still reaches for pieces of the sky.

I am of the shore

Where air and water and stone combine in frothy tumult,

Where tides change all the rules,

And creatures must constantly decide to which dominion they belong.

I am of the sky  

Where star and cloud and rainbow tug upward on my soul, 
Where birds negotiate with gravity,  
And I am free to dream on the edges of infinity.

I am of the One,

In Whom I live and move and have my being,

Who is and was and is to come,

And fills my every moment and place with love and meaning.

© 2016 Bob Mason

The Smell of Grace (Communion)

I smelled the blood today,
But it did not smell like blood.
The concord sweetness filled my eager nostrils,
Sweetness that conquered my heart long ago and still.

I lift the silver lid.
The wafting vapors whisper,
Sweet whisper of love,
Incomprehensible sacrifice,
Overwhelming lavishment,
The taste of fruit undeserved and luscious,
Crushed
That I might smell,
That I might taste,
That I might absorb to utter saturation,
Love, infinite and inexhaustible.

I thirst no more and yet ever.

©2013 Bob Mason

Tomorrow

Like a big boy, I said,

“Go ahead, find your new way.

I’ve made my choice;

I’ve heard the voice;

Move forward, always forward.”

But the little boy saw you

Reaching for tomorrow,

Definitively, purposefully,

Reaching for tomorrow.

He must confess, wistfully, longingly,

In the third person,

His sorrow,

Mixed with bright prayer.

©2013 Bob Mason

7/26/2013

It's been some time since I had to write a poem.

The Smile

I don’t know what it was,
If it was meth or death, booze or lose,
But it was all over her face,
And it wasn’t pretty.

A smile dropped down onto mine,
From somewhere up where love lives.
And you should have seen it.

That smile leapt across an unknown distance,
Washed across her face,
And I mean washed,
Washed away the ugly,
Washed away the pain,
Leaving only beauty to shine again,
Oh such beauty to shine again.

©2012 Bob Mason

Tidbits of Paradise

Fields of laughter greet my eyes.
Gleams of rapture meet the skies.
Grasses bloom and shout to me,
"See how you were meant to be?
Peaceful, loving, wild and free,
Peaceful, loving, wild and free."

Sunrise pastels paint the clouds.

Night withdraws her velvet shrouds.
Song erupts from Mockingbird.
Pictures form from beauty heard.
Thoughts are best without a word.
Thoughts are best without a word.
 
In my mind the chorus forms,
Loosed from usual human norms,
Bursting out from blade to brow,
"Lord please tell me, tell me how,
Life was better then than now.
Life was better then than now."
 
Ó1993 Bob Mason


This one came from the files, brought to mind by listening to The Innocence Mission's rendition of "What a Wonderful World." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ah96-6aOng

The poem is inspired by that moment of beauty that we sometimes get in this world, the moment that fleetingly seems like nothing could ever surpass it nor ever could have.

I've Got the Blue

Oh baby!
      I’ve got the blue.

You heard it right,

No ‘s’ on this blue.
      ‘s’ for sad,
           ‘s’ for someday . . . please.

I’ve got THE blue,

       yes, THAT blue.

Brilliant, electric,

Never sucking

        but always adding light
                to the room,
                     to the view,
                             to you.

The blue shining up

       from Crater Lake's edge,

The blue that promises

       Your movie
             is about
                   to begin.

Oh yes baby,

      I’ve got
           that blue.

©2012 Bob Mason

Defining Consciousness

Memory engages the present,
Absorbing it into the future,
And says,
“There are others!”

©2012 Bob Mason