The Conversion

What swear they now, who swore that God was dead,
And here, bewildered, gaze upon her face?
Their disbelief is vanquished, and instead
of doubt, they come to know God through her grace.
He set in her bright eyes a living flame
That all might feel his love within that light.
What force but his could draw such wide acclaim,
Or spread across the world such rare delight?
And now they race to penance, since they lied
When speaking of the joys of unbelief,
They curse their sins, and cast off all their pride,
And in God's love, her beauty, find relief.
What greater proof have we that God is real
Than this, her light, which dark cannot conceal?

Forever

You consistently give me these quiet,
simple, and wholly perfect gifts:
a touch of your hand
that sets fire in my flesh,
a whispered "I love you" that lavishes
thoughts of peace upon my mind,
a hushed glance from your blue eyes which
signals that my hope has been redeemed.

I'll walk with you always
because before I met you
my life was but a shade:
I wandered in the silence of
not-knowing-your laughter,
and all the world was black
without the forgiveness
I find in your smile.

We frequently speak of forever,
but it does not lie in the future.
It is around us, within us,
and its power grows with
every sweet embrace,
the sacred moments
when two hearts melt into one.

Sonnet for Athanasia

The living fire burns hot within her heart,
And melts the ice that drapes across my world.
I give her names like "joy that won't depart,"
"My hope of peace," "The might of God unfurled."
Her beauty is the theme the poet seeks
And yet, by fortune, is but mine to praise.
A strangely simple task for when she speaks
She moves me so, and sets my heart ablaze.
Her splendor is the sum of my esteems,
A bolt of lightning in my sky of gray,
A glimpse of truth within my life of dreams,
An hour of rest that spells my darkest day.
She resurrects the faith in me again,
And marks the true departure of my sin.

No Other Life but Mine

At last I want no other life but mine,
I see God's gifts aligned in bright array.
The world conforms itself to His design,
The darkness wanes, and slowy slinks away.
For when she speaks to me, or when I hold
her gaze, no pain woud dare assail my heart.
And evil, who was once so proud and bold
Is humbled, and repents of his cruel art.
This is the sweet fruition of my thought,
This is the life I always dreamed I'd build,
This is redress for all I once forgot,
This is the hushing grace of hope-fulfilled.
And glad am I who, in the dark, rehearsed,
That now her beauty lives within my verse.

It is Forged Within Her Heart

The living fire breathes life in me once more,
Unlooked for, all my demons are subdued.
O bliss of hope reborn! she has renewed
My strength; my spirit soon begins to soar.
I prayed, and God allowed her to explore
my mind, and see what praise she had accrued,
One day the world will see, I will exude
Acclaim most high for her I most adore.
The future is not certain, we must make
Our dreams come true with patience and with care.
Cast off this idleness! I will partake
In forging my own joy--now my despair
Is fading fast, my soul begins to quake,
She gives me hope beyond the hope of prayer.

The Invocation

At times I fear man is but born to die,
And verily we all shall pass away.
The bliss and strength of youth serve to belie
Our end, which hastens closer day by day.
What is our meaning? Which our destined road?
Can we against the tide of death conspire?
We can when loveliness unmatched is sowed
Within a heart, such beauty can inspire.
I now know whence such perfect beauty came,
And I shall praise her, for I know I must.
Her beauty will not die, she'll live in fame
While all the rest fade quietly to dust.
Come words! your task is to immortalize
Her smile, her grace, the light within her eyes.

Alabanza

The mystery of your existence
sparkles like ecstasy before my eyes,
flooding my world with light.
These images flash in wonder
against the walls of my mind,
and the unspoken words
that I crafted in sleep
rise up to join
the chorus of my praise.

"imagen de luz,"
"la chispa de gracia,"
"placer de mi vida"

During the entirety of my own existence
I have hungered for the
nourishment you now provide.
At every instant, and in all places
I dreamed of the moment
when you would arrive in my arms.

Us.

I marvel that such a simple word
could evolve into something so deep.
Two letters now carry the burdensome weight
of all my burgeoning joy.

Coming to Know You

At this moment
I am slightly confused
As to how you exude
such optimism, sincerity, and grace.

There is depth to your words
that belies your beauty,
And beauty in your heart
That defies the limits of my mind.

In coming to know you
I have discovered my greatest joy,
my deepest peace,
and the strongest hope
that I have ever known.

An Afternoon with Athanasia

My frame of reference dissolves
as the blue from your eyes
enters and overtakes my mind.

Blue the color of longing.

Blue the color of
the afternoon's untarnished sky.

And my universe shrinks
to little more than your features:
Supernovas of golden hair
swirling across infinity,
Absolute energy pulsing
with each word that passes
from your lips.

I wander among the ethereal galaxies
of your eyes, inhaling the azure,
my memory dissipating into
the vaulted stillness of your gaze.

My Death

My heart will slide down and die
on a day that many will remember.
They will recall the moment of my passing
With joy or sorrow
without ever thinking of me.

Their minds will leap to secret pleasures
or secret pains,
the mysteries they encountered
as I explored the mystery of death.

The World Around Me

The world around me hides itself,
it speaks in tongues I cannot understand.
There was something about a war,
still more about a profit margin,
But I could not be certain since
the voices gurgle in incomprehensible tones
that I cannot understand.

The world around me moves as though
it strives to remodel the meaning of haste.
The only speeds are quick, fast, and hurry,
and a moment to ponder why you are moving
is the greatest blasphemy of all.

The people who inhabit the world around me
are pround, profitable, and poised.
They are excited about making everyone envious and then
They thump their chests and gurgle about progress.

It's true, the human spirit lies closer
to the razor than ever before.

Silencio

El silencio regresa
como bruma cubriendo
mi vida.

Me esfuerzo los ojos
para ver lo que
me espera
en la distancia,
pero la unica cosa
que observo
es el toque suave
de niebla sobre
los parpados.

Quizas no quiero
enterarme con el porvenir.
Quizas, desgraciadamente,
sea la misma fisura
de soledad que he conocido
todo mi vida.

This Moment

My art of remembrance declines
until all I can summon
is this moment:
the thirty-seventh heartbeat
of the fourteenth minute
of the sixteenth hour of the day.

Afternoon silence rolls
through the trees.
Somewhere, I assume,
a child is laughing,
and somewhere else a child
cries out in pain.

This moment is the
end result of everything
I cannot now remember,
and the culmination of every word
that has bloomed within my mind.

is est meus spes

This is the sweet rehearsal of my thought,
These words are silent markers of my will.
I long to live, regain what I forgot,
And find my soul ablaze within me still.
Life burns, but who knows why we came to be?
I thought it was to love, strange then it seems
That those I seek to know fly fast from me,
And mock the fading hope I find in dreams.
Am I not warm and gentle, like the rain
That mists before our eyes in passing spring?
I fear I'll walk alone, that all is vain,
And all my hope no love or peace will bring.
And yet, since I may find her, I rehearse,
That she would feel Christ's love in my sweet verse.