Tie

This is the thing that brings me to you:

The open hand, the closed look, the ring.

Then, while I am here, even every touch ties me;

This is when I decide I'll never leave.

I take the ring, the little hard cold beauty,

It's size a wonder, it's eyes always bright.

Still you leave, and I leave you, in the cool evening,

With only one rule between us, the one that I took.

I glance at it now, thankful to have gained it, yet

Wishing it were able to channel your self.

No, but it is only hard, scratchy, lifeless beauty,

Nothing like you.

Dilemma

How can I open a box with no seams?

I roll it in my fingers, feeling the smoothness of its surface,

Wanting what's inside;

Not knowing how to get it out.

My goal is ahead, but I see no path,

And though I try to step farther,

I am only trampling down the grass

That I trampled yesterday.

This is the circle that I am caught in:

To know the possibility, but have no ability,

No opportunity to become,

The one I know I should be.

Prayer

I really tried to write something tonight, but I couldn't write anything good. So I searched my files and found something I wrote several years ago instead.

It's not that I doubt you, Lord;

It's that I think you might forget some little detail.

You know how I have to have my life ordered just so,

And You might not get it right!

I have to watch out for my own interests.

And what if you don't give me the things I want?

What if you think I don't deserve them?

I'm sure I can get them on my own, if I try.

It's not that I doubt you, Lord, but

God helps those who help themselves.

(You said that, didn't you?)

If you were a little quicker, it wouldn't be so hard.

If you were clearer, I wouldn't need so much faith.

If you really loved me, you would give me what I want.