Your Dying Spouse 570 - Poetry Of Pain And Grace

So, what's up with the sonnets, all of a sudden?

I was brought here by pain and fatigue that are doing nothing but increasing. Having to put words and thoughts into the rhyme and meter of a Shakespearean sonnet concentrates and focuses my mind; the discipline makes the meaning behind what I'm trying to write come more learly for me, and, I hope for you.

I was brought to writing verse

by the hard overseer of pain

whose whip’s hard lash and shouted curse

bites deep, and I cannot feign

the mellow mien of modern man,

it’s turned me savage, hard;

my life’s old flowing graceful span

is left bent, broken, charred.

Yet in the wrack in which I kneel

a rhyme floats up, in grace;

it doesn’t matter how I feel,

but that I seek God’s face.

If I can transcend this deadly hurt

a flower may grow in that bloody dirt.

Music from Manafest, with Every Time You Run.

Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Marley, the canine waif from Afghanistan, whom WE helped save, has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.

Your Dying Spouse 569 - The Light Beyond The Clouds {FMF}

My soul wants to cry for aid
under a lowering sky.
But that's not how this game is played,
for I am marked to die.
The boon of palliative care
was never meant for me;
and it's in no way unfair
because now, on bended knee
I can behold in full a gentle Grace;
pain's opened divinity's door
and gave me glimpse of smiling Face;
how could I ask for more?
The clouds may be so grey above,
but over them, shines Holy Love.

Music from the Electric Light Orchestra, with perhaps their loveliest song, Can't Get It Out Of My Head.

Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Marley, the canine waif from Afghanistan, whom WE helped save, has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.

Your Dying Spouse 568 - Barb and Tim Tebow

I heard the news in the evening, after Barb had gone to bed, and I went to her door. "Barb?"

"Hmm?"

I opened the bedroom door, and stepped in. "I wanted to let you know first, because you're sure to hear the news."

"What news?" Barb sat up in bed, and hugged her knees.

"Well...Tim Tebow's gotten engaged. To a former Miss Universe. Apparently he got her a really huge ring."

Barb was nonplussed. "So?"

I took a deep breath. "Well, I'm going to email him, and send him your picture, and tell him that there'll be this super-nice lady who'll be available after I'm, like, you know, dead."

After blinking a couple of times, Barb said, "Huh?"

"I'm sure he'll break the engagement, and he's a really nice Christian boy, in good phyical shape...he'll be a lot of help with the dogs and stuff."

"Uh, well...thanks?"

"Hey, no problemo...I take good care of my women!"

"WHAT WOMEN????"

Think this is a made-up conversation, for comic relief? Just ask Barb.

And Tim.

What musical selection could be more appropriate than the theme song...at full length, a rarity...to The Monkees?

Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Marley, the canine waif from Afghanistan, whom WE helped save, has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.

Your Dying Spouse 567 - Die To Live, And Live To Rise

Not doing so well, a lot of chest and bone pain, and it's really distracting.

I hope you don't mind that I recycle a comment I left on another blog.

I wrote this sonnet for Joe Siccardi's marvelous post Dear Lord, which appeared on his masterful blog Wisdom From A Father.

Out of the soul’s dark bloody night

where death-wind blows from ultima thule

I ask only strength of a righteous fight

that will carry my soul past the pool

of black despair, and swimming, part

Bunyan’s Slough of Despond; t’isn’t the muscle

of my limbs, nor the iron in my heart

nor manic energy focused in tussle

can drive me through the dark places

that try to crack my brittle soul

with their moans and demon-faces;

there’s only One who keeps me whole.

When I put on Christ, it’s His strength I borrow

that bids me rise, and meet tomorrow.

Music from Soundgarden, with Live To Rise.

Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Marley, the canine waif from Afghanistan, whom WE helped save, has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.

Your Dying Spouse 566 - A Sense Of Wonder {FMF}

Well, it's hard to imagine this getting worse, but now there are lesions and ulcerations in my throat - connected with lymphoma, I guess, which make swallowing really, really hard. Not to mention talking.

On the other hand, the only relief comes from gargling with cheap champagne. I feel like a rock star.

And there were two bad falls, from icy steps onto concrete. The second one did a lot of damage.

And this is only the beginning...but as life is taken, piece by bloody piece, I feel really good about life.

What were small delights, like some late Christmas lights shining across the far side of the snowy mesa, bring a kind of fierce, untrammeled joy.

I always wanted to use that word, untrammeled. It's kinda groovy, dig it?

And then there is Labby, an enormous black Lab (over 150 pounds!) who is just now learning to walk on a leash. I'm so very tired these days, but somehow never too tired to take Labby for a walk. (He has no sense of personal space, and when he wants to pop up and say 'Hi!', brace yourself.)

I don't and can't know God's plan, but what I see, in the face of death, is Joy.

Appropriate to the subject is John Denver's lovely, sweet song Marvelous Toy.

Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Marley, the canine waif from Afghanistan, whom WE helped save, has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.