Xapa to the World

Category: For Someone

Poetry written with someone in particular in mind.

  • Poem: Breathe

    September 7th, 2004

    Caught off guard
    By the glory of it all
    Breath caught in my throat
    By the beauty of it all
    Could I ever have imagined
    That it could be like this?
    Such a peace and excitement
    Thrown in together
    Understanding and wonder
    Jumbled in together
    I’m so glad I waited
    Just for you.
    Our hearts were drawn together
    By the One, our Lover, Maker
    And now they’ve been
    Made into one.
    I can’t hardly breathe
    Yet there is a strength inside me
    A happiness
    That I can’t describe.

     – Sarah ><>

  • Poem: Kansas

    March 25th, 2004

    Kansas, Kansas
    There’s nothin’ to do
    ‘Cept pick at yur shoe
    After you walk thru
    A field with cow dooh

    Kansas, Kansas
    Yur so far away
    I wish I could stay
    N maybe git to play
    In a pile of hay

    Sarah ><>

  • Poem: For Katie

    March 24th, 2004

    You’re so far away
    The pain is so near
    The tears in her eyes
    Reveal all her fears

    Bring her in close
    In Your arms everlasting
    The hope in her eyes
    Shows it’s not passing

    You make it alive
    This soul shadow-covered
    The love in her eyes
    Reflects that discovered

    Awaken her spirit
    To Your will so sincere
    The joy in her eyes
    Lets her know You are near.

     – Sarah ><>

  • Poem: Broken Body

    March 17, 2004

    *For Larry and Jean Elliot, Karen Watson, and David and Carrie McDonnall

    You say we are a body; we all make up You
    Is that why I hurt inside
    When I hear this news?
    They were Your fingers; they were Your toes.
    My soul aches to have lost them.
    Yet Your body is complete.
    Satan breaks it, but You make it whole.
    He drives nails through it,
    And a spear in Your side, breaking Your heart.
    But You are forever, and forever reign.
    Thy will be done down here.
    Prove Your mighty plan…
    A broken body here on earth
    Is finally restored in Your glory!

     – Sarah ><>

  • Poem: Muktinath, Nepal

    This poem was written for a little town that I discovered in researching the country of Nepal.  It is a very strange town.  For one, it’s very high in the Himalayan Mountains.  You cannot fly into it or drive into it.  You have to be taken to a nearby city and then trek the rest of the way.  This adds to the profound religious nature of the city.  Three different religions make pilgrimages to this town:  The Hindus, Buddhists, and those practicing animism (tribal religions).  Here’s a link to the website promoting the town: http://www.muktinath.org/  When you browse through the pictures, you can see hundreds of thin flags hanging from lines all through the town, around the special sites.  It is a city where earth, wind, fire, and water all meet – which adds to the perceived holiness.  In one section, there are natural gases emitted from the ground which burn continually.  In another section, there are 100 streams of water, coming from stone boar’s heads (which are one of the avatars of Vishnu).  It is such a strange place, where so many people go to seek perdition and to maintain holiness.  My heart has been with this town for a long time and here is my poem to it and the people who live and visit there.

    Muktinath, Nepal

    December 30, 2003

    Why are your eyes so red and tired?
    Is the wheel not granting you peace?
    Do the flames that surround you
    Cause you grief and fear?

    The girls come and dance at the temple
    They wave their scarves
    Full of color and devotion.
    The women come to learn and serve
    Giving their lives to the spirits of stone.
    The boys come to pray.
    The men come with red dripping from their faces and hands
    Hopes of cleanliness and enlightenment.

    You are searching, my love.
    You are reaching for the One
    But you grasp at these scarves, hanging in the breeze.
    How I long to bring the Message.
    Will someone share with you?

    Who would take it up the mountain?
    Climb into the crevasses so worn and dark with worship.
    Stand on the ridge with your back to the wind.
    You have become a scarf floating in the air.
    An offering to the earth that you would join.

    Dream of a God who loves you.
    Dream of a God who died for you.
    He will come and love you.
    Come inside from the cold
    from the harsh north wind.
    Take shelter in the arms of the One who holds you.

     – Sarah ><>

  • Poem: For Dr. Terrell

    This poem is in honor of a professor (actually the former president) of my college.  I got to the college in 2003, and Dr. Gail Terrell had already been sick for some time.  After about a month, he passed away from complications in the hospital.  I went to his funeral knowing nothing of him but the reputation that he had with the others there.  I had never met him, but I was moved by the funeral, so I wrote this poem about it.

    October 14th, 2003

    Hi
    I never met you
    I don’t really know why I’m here
    I’ve heard so much about you
    This is so uncomfortable

    Everyone here is in tears
    Some have smiles
    Some can’t show their face

    Look at her up there
    She’s heart-broken
    Trying to be strong in all this
    She says fine, but we know, she’s torn inside
    I can’t imagine

    Half of her is missing
    Half of her heart, half of her body
    The unity is gone
    She’s been broken
    Tears fall and water the earth

    Where are you living now?
    In a castle of sunflowers
    Glowing with the brilliance of
    The One who stole your heart so long ago?
    Are clouds surrounding you now?
    Or are you living in the very hand of God?

    Wow, I can’t believe I’m starting to cry
    I never even met you
    The ones close to me are grieving
    I don’t know why
    They do

    You fed their minds
    You touched their hearts
    You encouraged their souls
    Their tears fall and water the earth

    The children are here too
    I never knew them either
    They hold their hearts in their hands now
    Tears fall and water the earth

    Goodbye
    I never met you
    But your hand has touched my heart
    Just like everything else

     – Sarah ><>