Linda M. Crate- Three Poems

tourniquet   

You forgave the world
so i must forgive
him
even though
my heart is aching,
even if my friends want to
run him over,
even if i'd rather punch
him in the face
i know you wouldn't
want them or for me to do
anything evil—
so i sit here bathed in these
angry soliloquies
praying for your guidance and
help because i'm
drowning in a tide of fury
that seems to flow and flow and
never ebb,
and i can't take this insanity anymore
Father; heal me,
because i can't heal myself—
all these tourniquets
soiled and bleeding strangle me
beneath their folds,
don't let them strangle all the
goodness out of me.



candle 

i don't want to be another snuffed
candle in a world of darkness
show me Your promises again, Father,
woeful humans forget the
shoulders
who lifted them
their Maker to whom they should praise
please forgive me for all the
stains of smoke i've left instead of
healing flames—
living for myself is too easy,
there's never going to
be a change unless this wounded world
is healed by Your hand
so give me Your grace and power
Father, Spirit, Son
let me help you heal this world
because your love is the only one that will
scorch this world with the beauty
betrayed it by all the apathy of forgetful humankind
Father please let me remember
all Your words;
that i can tell of Your power,
and bring Your words to light.



let me always love You
 
i want to love You forever
as You've always
loved me;
want to remember Your
name when the
world forgets
to be the candle of change
that blossoms
kindness into a world of apathy—
to lead others to the tabernacle to the
only love that saves,
and the universe that declares
God as their Maker
Jesus as their Savior
Holy Spirit as their Friend;
wish i could sing
Your songs loud enough that their
echo would be etched
in every mountain flower blowing in
the thread of every breath
breathing time
into the tapestry of the world—
so let me stop being
a broken
vase,
and let me lift my hands in Your
praise;
even when darkness descends shrouds
of pain to inflict it's
scars upon my heart.