Saturday, December 12, 2009

A Christmas Reminder for the Hopeless

The dark has headed through the rain
The bells shall never swing again,
They say that snow and sleet have won
They say the night has just begun;
But so the Jewish people thought
When all the roads came down to naught,
When women far, and women near
Bore no young Son, year after year,
When stars burned bright, but never shone
The peaceful path of golden-roan,
When men worked on, and slaughtered sheep
To save the sins that all men reap.
Then from the hopeless little maid
Who bared her village scorn and shame,
From rumors dark, and tongues of hate
There burst a light, so fair and great,
So grand, that all the doubts and fears
Were melted from the stooping years,
And bells of heav'n still sweetly say,
"There's hope: it's Christmastime today!"
When dark has headed through the rain,
When bells shall never swing again,
Look back, where dimmer hearts have glowed
And triumphed, through the 'sleet and snow'.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

'The Swallow' Returns to Port


Twilight on the river,
Mist upon the sea,
Lanterns in 'the Swallow'
Shining on the lee.
Sailor in the crow's nest
Eyes against the snow:
Handkerchiefs are waving,
"Captain, won't you row?"
Closer draws the Swallow
Flakes stick to her hair
Tangled sails are twisted
Cracking in the air
Sailor in the crow's nest
Shields his eye and sees
Twilight on the dockyard
Lover on the lee.
Hear the cries of women
Shouting in the breeze!
See the snowflakes falling
'Cross the turning seas!
Clouds and sun are failing,
Frost steps down in pairs;
Yet---like linen snowflakes
Kerchiefs split the air.
Tears are gladly spilling,
Hearts, thanksgiving-blessed
Winter that was killing
Now is Happiness.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Allegory of Autumn and Suffering


A breath upon the frozen pond,
An icicle of red
That shines within the torching sun
And shows his golden head.
This---looking out upon the green
That's turned to crimson shade:
This---gazing out upon the scene
That Grand Creation made.
A girl upon the rattling tracks
Whose eye would gladly see
The beauty of the setting sun
If down would bend the trees
And gone would be the turning mist
And lost, the settled fog---
If only rains left fewer stains
And whirlwinds, fewer flogs:
Then she could see the burning sun
Across the twisted log,
And great would be the epitaph
Of love, writ in the smog.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Humankind vs. Animals, Part 2


*Note: Please feel free to read Part 1, below, before continuing this post!
The object of debate in such study rises from the torment that we are merely a product, as well: one among many animals that will rise and fall, fade by the breeze, run the path, and then degenerate again. We may, truly, become heroes in our society or put concern upon some unaddressed issue--but why, if only to be scratched away by sands of time once more? We are left to the realization of starch, unlovely, unloved beings perhaps briefly considered by a length in the history of time, and destroyed entirely when our human counterparts have found no use in our entertainments or discoveries. We were conceived: we will die. We were flesh: we will become dust. We were someone: we will dance our way to the unknown grave, which no one wishes to follow us in to. Poor or rich, generous or lackluster in regard to poverty, virtuous or sinful: how does it matter how we live it?
From youth, these concepts of unintelligence barrage us with questioning all that seemed a hazy firmness in our minds. The leash of the cold, soon-to-fade existence is almost close to choking us with the faux reality that we are nothing more than a pack of animals---perhaps more numerous than some herds, but animals nonetheless---racing towards our own ends. There is some line that is still blurry in our scientific matters on the conscience and heart, though, and even the staunchest biologist cannot declare the reason for charity, or choice, in human's actions. Not only is the view of humans vs. animals very faulty in its ignorance of the complexity of humans, it is also a dismal prospect, as outlined in the depressing outlook of such reasoning. So why shall we live with such question marks of life, when all around us, Intelligence of a great God is visible in individuals---and more specifically, humans?

Humankind vs. Animals---Part 1

When I was searching through my filed archives, I found this descriptive argument for the intelligence of human beings vs. animals. I wrote this when I was about fourteen or fifteen, so forgive the mistakes when they come.
"From one man God made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live."
A shiver of wonder, a feeling of being lost, crushes my spirit as I read these words---that we are individually placed and sanctioned: left to wither or root, blossom or fade as every flower that is planted. Careful making eased us into the ground---warm, compassionate hands left us within the earth and led us to where we are now. The hypocritical scoff at this---tell us it was no ultimate power but cold conception that breathed life upon meagerness, and a soul into the yet unread heartbeat. With the comfortable facts of pregnancy and birth, with the new methods of probing the unborn's mind and picking apart the little section of awaiting arrival; by scientific theory and method, the thought of Intelligence is weaned away, left to drift, lost and long gone, amongst the watered-down beauty of life. Many a man may explain away growth of the cell and the completed product, but what of the soul, the realization that dawns and the newness of a spirit that matures in a child? No fox pup, growing older, develops an idea of how to solve a complex crisis or rule over its fellow mammal. No rooster scratches together a rude crown of briers and exalts himself king in the hierarchy of the henhouse. Rather, the blood and throb of wisdom and journey, excitement and emotion, falls into the sterile confines of dull animal, a scientific no one. We are, certainly, a bunch of of test tube cells---indeed, we can be probed and killed, desecrated and defiled, forced from our clan of family as surely as our lower creature-kind; yet there remains conscience of mind: we may regret, or scorn and continue, and what animal has reason to love except for maternal or paternal reason?

Friday, November 20, 2009

Yesterdays and Todays

Yesterday was the bright green cloak,
Today is the copper veil,
Yesterday, cotton-colored smoke,
Today, the shivering pale.
Yesterday was the summer breeze
Today, the autumn wind,
Yesterday, the little bluebirds tease
Today, their farewells send.
Why is it Yesterday seems lost
In Today's creeping sheath?
The twigs, the trees, the breathing moss
Seem gone in season's wreath.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Train Hymn


Sweet train whistles
Blow in the frozen night
Crystal bits of filtered light
Shivering in the snowflakes
And the shimmering rains.
Sweet train whistles
As soft as the warm blankets
Chin-high on the hills
Autumn spinning rills
Of leaves across the mountain tops
And a buck, with risen head
Smelling the wind.
Sweet train whistles
As lonely as the season's change
As white as the sun
Notes of seeds,
Pods,
And brass-coated wheels
Breaking reels
Of twigs into the night.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Old Earth

When you and I are old, the earth
Will be that older still,
The leaf will be a withered piece
The frost will snap the rill,
The snow in sheets of crystal gray
Will mesmerize the eye
And everything, from brake to bray
Will be of silver dye.
The trees will be an aged head
Of hoary limbs and twigs,
The pasture and the meadow:
A humped and wrinkled wig,
The wind will move with slower gait
Then ever he'd before
And all the clouds in summer stay
A black and slated floor.
The birds will flutter through the air
With bent and powdered frill:
When you and I are old, the earth
Will be that older still.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

The World Was Still


The world was still--ah! Fragrant, still
A spice across the floating cloud
A horse, uprisen head against
The auger of the graceful hill,
And lips drawn back to catch the taste
Of fluttering pods and seeds
That like the stars, were scattered
In the field of blowing weeds;
And soon, the moon peeping behind
Summer curtains fresh-glittering in
The wind, that have grown red
Like maple's leaves
From Mama changing the laundry line.
Everything was different when
The world was still, and autumn's grin
Had pressed its savagery upon
The world.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Autumn Song


The cold is on the autumn post:
The ice is in the vale,
The silence, like a blanket's ghost
Upon the downy dale.
A bird of crystal light and sound
Sings through the rising dawn:
It rings across the broken ground
And blesses leaf and lawn.
The hymn takes note across the field,
The pasture and the lane
It echoes in the silver shield
Of sky, and crumpled grain,
The little breast heaves heaven's tune
Without assuming why
The angels gave its reverie room
To spread its wings, and fly.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

This Majestic Glory

"They are much to be pitied who have not been given a taste for nature early in life."---Jane Austen

I have a certain unhappiness, somewhat like Austen's, when I meet someone disinterested in the beautiful Creation God has provided for us. God has given us everything from soft, tendrilling roses to the harsh grandeur of lightning on mountains, and to be wholly unaware---or careless---of such snatches of beauty is pitiable indeed. God did not separate nature simply to the brief chapters of Genesis: his Word is full of it. Psalms is abundant with allegories of humans and eagles, the earth clapping its hands, and hills bowing low to God's glory. Song of Songs speaks of lovers in lush beds of flowers; God contends with Job when he asks Job if he made this wild world and every creature on it. Ruth gleans in shining harvest fields; the Israelites go through parallel worlds of both harsh desert and verdant land.
God shows himself continually through his creation, both in the Bible, and today. I challenge those locked up behind computer desks to take a breath now and then of the breeze, and to write about the season's changing. We have not experienced fully until we experience this majestic glory of creation.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Footsteps of Autumn Rain


An autumn moon, like fresh-shucked corn
The chin of an October morn
The footsteps of the gentle rain:
And leaves across the window frame.
A tabby cat with eyes of gold
The pumpkin and its top of mold
A single, solitary stain
Of raindrops on the window frame.
The open mouth of summer brooks
That linger, with a backward look
As if to say, "The winsome grains
Have rotted in the autumn rains."
The thin black caw of cobalt crows
A whisper of the coming snows
Red maples bent across the lane:
And footsteps of the gentle rain.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Autumn Pale


When the world in solemn stillness lies,
And the moon in silence, frowns
And the sad, dark wind
On the lonesome bend
Lips the river's frothy gown
When the brow of the hill is as brass as the bell
That hangs in the cornered dale:
We will lift our heads, and breathe a prayer
A prayer of the autumn pale.

Friday, September 4, 2009

The Eternity of Poetry

"The poem...was a passing reminder, a breath from the divine lips of beauty, a nightingale between two worlds of dust."---E.M. Forster

Poetry is an expression which has been produced, procured, imagined, entertained, and been read for centuries. It has broken hearts; it has opened minds. It has written the way of the world upon the hearts of men, where other forms of artistry could not touch. The written word, combined with the cadence and beauty of poetry, has become a pure place within the weariest roads. We are attracted to songs because of their rhyme(find any, and you will notice either its beat or its similar word forms, evidence of poetry, even in the hardest rap.), and pulled towards paintings with symmetry, form, and grace. This is the beginning, and epitome, of poetry: that we will be drawn to the love of its base, which is goodness itself, and build from there with our own forms of its cornerstone.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

The Single Leaf


I saw a leaf, a single leaf,
Spin past the silent dale
And land upon the quiet chest
Of autumn's golden rail,
A single leaf, which heaven brought
To drift upon the shroud
Encased in other bits of rag
We call the copper cloud:
How sad it felt to view it there
Amongst the reds and rogue:
While summer moaned through fragrant woods
And threads of snowy blue---
How sorrowful my sunlit heart
In trepidation grew
To see the leaf go drifting down
Within the autumn's rue.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Between Skies and Sod

Could clouds present the golden sea?
Could sun imagine waves?
Could moon, in tidal heavens set
Be bought by ocean caves?
No---this is a world of separate place
And paling ocean strands:
The skies remain their own, and then
The seas claim frigates grand.
The heavens can't contain the blue
Of foam, or dolphin's tune:
As such, the flowing frothing waves
Do not encase the Bloom
That struggles vainly to the sun---
So thin, the line is drawn
'Tween earth, and sky, and crashing sea:
The differentiated lawns!

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Happiness In Seasons


I would delight in nothing less
Then pure, attuned, fair happiness!
This is the way I claim what's mine:
October fields in gleaming rye
The April blooms, the May divine
November's trees of crimson wine---
December snows, and August rains
The shining January lanes,
A lover's knot for month's between:
The silent February sheen.
Of March, July, September's breeze
I'd gain the pale, unswerving leaves
That drift amongst the lacy round
Of stars, and moon, and shadowed ground.
June, left alone, is not forgot:
Its final petaled joy has brought
Completeness to my soul---and blessed
I bask in graceful happiness!

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Evangelism


I'm no deep theologian or a sign-toting street evangelist (far from it---I'm still struggling to witness!), but I do know sincerity and a sense of humility will get you a long way with people.
People are people---all of us are sinners, and when we speak about Christ, we're doing it in gentleness and love, not in the heat of a fiery debate or winning the 'faith' argument. Listen and ask questions more than spouting religious dogma, and most of all, act like a concerned friend instead of turning people off with your irritation to 'get the upper hand' of the conversation.
Sure, people may say some stuff that isn't it line with you, but that's why you're convicting them of their sins and handing them the Gospel's truth. It isn't about argument---it's about salvation.
I found Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron's ways of presenting the gospel really great for future use. (www.livingwaters.com has their videos and presentation.) I've given out their gospel tracts and their fun, unoffensive ways that get people's attention.
Of course, sometimes you can't get a person to change their mind at the moment. That's okay, too. You may have planted a seed that another person will water, and a third will help grow.
(www.NeedGod.com is also a great website, part of livingwaters.)

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Birches at Dusk



Pale white trees in the silver dusk,
Silent leaves through the sunset hills,
Drifting blooms in the breathless air:
Songs of Spring on the sparrow bills;
Gentle, gracious, heaving Wind
Catching trees with the fingered fist
Corpulent moon on the bannered sky
Waiting amongst the grass-blown wisps.
Birches, fragrant and bending low,
Wait for the times of integral sun:
Flowering stalks, Springtime dawn
Red, on the brow of the river's run.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

The Shift in Feminine Dress



The entire entity of femininity has seemed to fade in the last few decades. We see women in low-cut tops and short-shorts, flaunting their 'stuff', and, in some cases, appearing like a man in their cut of clothing and style choices. There's something to be said about a woman remaining fascinating because of her modesty. It's different, it's soft, and it's...astonishing. With so many women and young girls trying to attract---yes, attract!---lust from men around them, it's like a shining sunbeam when a woman comes into the room with a skirt on and a beautifully patterned top.
It's difficult to dress modestly with the ads we're given, but the truth is, it's definitely more fulfilling in view of a woman's personal femininity. It gives her confidence, grace, and gentleness of spirit, all aspects which the Bible repeatedly promotes. It guards and exudes purity, and most of all, it takes to great lengths the passage which says, "In which you [children of God] shine like stars." (Within a crooked and depraved generation.) --Philippians 2:15
Frankly, it's difficult to see over the bulging bellies and tight pants to the Christ-toting tee shirt above. If Christian women are to put themselves into the golden service which calls them to meek and gentle living, then their clothing should show it as well.
Women in the Depression had limited clothing choices, yet we whine about the little amount of modest clothing out in the world today. Certainly, we have to look for it, but it's there. We have racks to choose from, cheap and not-so-cheap, we have the ability to learn how to sew and often the money to buy inexpensive fabric.
Put a flower in your hair once in a while and see how it makes you feel. Wear a skirt to the grocery store instead of jeans. Be bold. After all, we are women. (:
(Compare and contrast the two pictures above and tell me what you think. Which would you see as more feminine, which more unattractive and unnoticeable in the mobs of the rest of society? Aren't we supposed to separate ourselves from this generation?)

Story of the Skies

Like a charming angel,
The golden sunlight flew,
To tear apart the dawning,
And split apart the blue:
Like a wily devil,
the crimson moonbeam played,
And ripped apart the sunlight
With greedy, bloody rays.
"I'd have you hung and cornered!"
The painful sunbeam cried;
"The promises you hand me!"
The nasty moon replied---
And then the little cloudheads
Came up to bless the rue
And banished all the starlight
To cold and nightly dew.
So you may now admonish
The sky for being true:
And all because the dawning
Came up to bless the blue.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

My Little Bird and Me


We'd been the way of all the world:
My little bird and me;
We'd seen the golden, cresting shores
And all the wind-torn leas,
We'd watched the little rabbits sit
In summer, by the lanes
And every clock, and every month
Go skipping through the rain.
We'd been the way of all the world:
The valleys, and the fog
We'd seen epitome of light
Upon the mossy log
And taken many pictures of
The cold and glassy sea:
We'd been the way of all the world,
My little bird and me.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Manhood and Womanhood Defined


I just read a great book on the subject of manhood and womanhood, titled, "What's the Difference? Manhood and Womanhood Defined According to the Bible", by John Piper.

I can't directly quote him, but he acknowledges that mature men are here to protect, provide for, and lead women according to differing, appropriate relationships to women. Women were made to affirm, receive, and nurture strength and leadership from worthy men in appropriate, differing relationships.

What this basically means is that men are the leaders in the marriage (and even in society with women), although they acknowledge, and yes, decide based on equal conversation with their wives. Women are meant to uphold that leadership and follow their husband's decisions.

Now, I am not going to get into the complexities of why some women must work to provide for an ailing, unable to bear that leadership responsibility husband. Nor am I going to tread the controversial waters of the independent, "I don't need a man to lead me." attitudes, or the thoughts of why certain men are inadequate to lead their families. On the whole, I believe that man and woman were put here on earth with different roles as husband and wife, although they are equally valued by God.

I also think that Scripture supports men initiating as the main leader in spiritual matters, i.e. leading their family in prayer, taking the family to church, and setting up Biblical studies. Again, don't misinterpret this: there are instances when men do not step up to the plate, so to speak, and women must humbly and gently---while meekly asking their husband for his leadership---continue their walk with Christ and the family.
__________________

Tree Song

A league, a league, a merry league
The passions that the birches read
In letters, leaves, and little breeze
That skips in merry, sighing heaves.
A breath, a beauty, and the gasp
Of winds and weathers maples clasp
In branches swaying, soft and high
Amongst the pale, intriguing sky.
Some silent hill, some mountain pass
Ringed all about with swaying grass
And pine trees playing verdant songs
Where eagles play, and hares belong.
They'd have you lost, those swinging trees
In butterflies, and basking bees
In wings of laughter, tails of leaves
And paper trails of Sun.

The Concept of Courtship


A couple of friends of mine entered into a courtship, and eventually ended up marrying. In basic terms, you limit your amount of touching/caressing to remain pure with the other person, you both remain accountable to a mentor (usually it's the parents of the courting couple), and your intent is not just for 'fun' dating, but with a future possibility of marriage. That means both of the people in the courtship are prepared beforehand to consider marriage in the future (though that does not mean they will marry the person they're courting---courtships can be broken off and are not an engagement! It is simply an acknowledgment that you aren't some girl or guy that just wants to date for the romantic side of it, but are seriously considering marriage.).
Joshua Harris, in his book Boy meets Girl, gave a great version of courtship that worked really well for him and helped him and his future spouse consider each other in terms of both friends and, later, when they had established that, an attracted couple romantically. You can't have only the romantic/attraction side of it making all the decisions. YES, that is needed, but you must also consider the other person's spirituality, personality, and compatibility with your own values and lifestyle. Of course, with a Christian we're told to not be 'unequally yoked' with an unbeliever---meaning, choose your future spouse based on their relationship with God that will pull you up, and not away from, God and his laws.
Anyway, I have a last bit of advice for all of you teenagers and younger kids. Try not to focus so much on relationships right now, especially if you are still young and not ready emotionally, or spiritually, for something as great and sacred as marriage. You can focus more on things that will improve your future right now, and also make you the right person for your spouse when you're ready. Most teenagers don't end up with the guy or girl they thought was 'cute' in chemistry class and spent the summer struggling up courage to become boyfriend/girlfriend with.
Girls and guys, God has a greater plan for you then breaking up and hooking up. He wants you to experience things, and help you to remain pure, without the confusion and strain of relationships.
I Kissed Dating Goodbye is also a great book for all of you who still have questions! Thanks for reading!

Monday, July 20, 2009

Sunset on the Shore


The sea was crashing 'gainst the shore
A thousand lives of foam, or more
Had greedily engaged the core
Of sunlight piercing waves.
The quiet cliffs, the dropping moor
Were white, against the scattered floor
Of oceans curling golden doors
Across the aqua skies.
The seashell dipped her scarlet chest
Against the places where the crest
Fell floating through the scattered nests
Of gulls, upon the rocks---
And breezes skipped across the sea
To make it ruffle, lace and reed
Against the temporary bleed
Of sunset on the shores.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Other Issues of the Bible

Although How Faint the Whisper will mainly focus on nature, I will also include articles on several subjects consistent with Scriptural values, such as my opinion on:
1. Roles of Womanhood and Manhood
2. Evangelism
3. Courting vs. Dating
4. Holiness and Purity
5. Other Biblical Issues
For the most part, I will be posting poetry for your personal enjoyment and encouragement, but these other issues are also raised frequently in Christian circles, and I would like to make a point of mixing them in occasionally with my poetry.
Thanks, as always, for reading.

To Golden Roads


You found the road, the distant road,
It wound itself away,
Its beauty burned from fragrant throats
Of wild rye and hay,
Its heart was in the turning tide
Of trees that barred the stream,
Its leaves blew breath across the boughs
That floated by the Gleam.
You felt it pass the solemn elk,
The stagnant pond, the lake,
The vivid green drew brushstrokes on
The silver, beaming brake;
You watched the summer cast away
And whisper love notes dear
Upon the glens, and harbored wrens
In little havens sheer.
You found the road, the distant road
Then looked into the shrouds
To find the leaves go drifting down
Amongst the marble clouds:
But though the trees were shining green---
An emerald, heaven-brought---
The veins upon the drifting leaves
Were gold---an angel's lot.
You passed the road a distant foot
A mile, wheeled free
While all around you golden leaves
Fell flowing from the trees.

Introduction to How Faint a Whisper

Hello and welcome to my blog, How Faint the Whisper. The title of my blog was based on Scripture in Job, which states,
"God spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing. He wraps up the waters in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their weight. He covers the face of the full moon, spreading his clouds over it. He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters, for a boundary between light and darkness. The pillars of the heavens quake, aghast at his rebuke. By his power he churned up the sea...By his breath the skies became fair; his hand pierced the gliding serpent. And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him! Who then can understand the thunder of his power?"---Job 26: 7-14
In my blog, I seek to glorify God in poetry, posts, and discussion. Often, my poetry and other links are based on moral concerns in our world today. Thank you for joining me as we journey together down this path of God's beauty.
My first installment of poetry will soon be posted for viewing.