"Ride on man, ride on through, take your lands, you own them."- Mark Mathis

I don't want to avoid the obvious or the realities of this fallen world. But so often we are moved by pictures---movies, paintings, metaphors/symbols---that I tend to gravitate to the visual side of emotions/troubles etc. in my own writing. Ezra Pound was the master (literally) of connecting an image to another idea or person. Or perhaps, we as readers, are the ones responsible for the connection. In any case, here is the end of a poem I found compelling today:

It was you that broke the new wood,
Now is a time for carving.
We have one sap and one root---
Let there be commerce between us.

And perhaps a little more inspiring is:

You of the finer sense,
Broken against false knowledge,
You who can know first hand,
Hated, shut in, mistrusted:

Take thought:
I have weathered the storm,
I have beaten out my exile.

Here is a recent song that Bodgy is working out the music for. I appreciate the efforts of all my extended family. Daily I must remind myself that my hope is You...not this dream or that dream...not this person or that person...but You and all that I have yet to know You as. I have to get quiet and surrender to a living God; not a God of yesterday's achievements/mindsets/interactions. Anyway, heritis:

From the Ashes

Verse1:
Who is this One strong in war
His eyes furious to find our worth
when we've misplaced identities
And reveal to us who we are
To raise a shout among the dead
that laid before their time

Chorus:
Come find me in the ashes
And pour for me a drink
from the depths of Your well
The water runs down
Washing these wounds away
And the water runs down
Where I leave myself to lay

Verse2:
Who is this One tender in war
Lost, broken, have we forgotten mercy
that a Man carried and died for
So we might live fearless again
and find help in the time of need
For we are all in need

Bridge:
And we will run and not grow weary
And we will walk and never faint

I must give credit of inspiration to two people: Neil Steiner who gave me a word once about rising from the ashes. I am reminded of it quite often. And also to James who got me thinking about who the Lord is (at least to me) in wartime.