transference

For what it's worth, the totality of my blog love is now located at:

ivanhope.com/blog

An odd attempt at free verse...

Tiptoes through the grass
Bare skinned morning dew
Half steps fully taken
Cold gust and splashing excitement
To trip and fall and be
No farther from the goal
On hands and knees and dream
So much clearer than reality
A young father watching
A young daughter running
Together they march miles
In a few fleeting, tumbling steps


--

Christmas Cheer

a little poem born out of this year's family Holiday card:

the seasons drift
the sun grows dim
the days so short and cold
the children reach
the parents mark
another inch toward old

the world awaits
with bated breath
the chance to celebrate
a lasting peace
a moments calm
a heavy heart's lost freight

the choir it sings
communal praise
words coursing past the dome
of heaven's stellar
roiling seas
a stone skipped through the foam

one single thought
though countless shared
one single prayer from man
the trembling, fragile
precious thanks
the gift of Bethlehem

the wings of night
can seem so long
stretched taught across the chill
the point of light
can look so small
atop a winter's hill

and so it is is
in darkest time
we celebrate the light
for cold helps us
to praise the fire
while pitch refines our sight

that we might share
our deepest love
along each gust of wind
and pray with you
the new year's hope
just as his elder ends

may seasons drift
may suns grow dim
may days be short and cold
may children reach
may parents mark
each Christmas story told.


Merry Christmas!

The first press

A nice day to start a blog. Or so I hope.

Warm autum winds are making colorful streamers of the trees that sway outside my window. It's beautiful to look at but slightly intimidating if you let yourself get too thoughful. It reminds me of the disarray in my own head. I need a good leaf-blower to whisk away all the clutter and let the important thoughts stand on their own. Roots survive the winter, I suppose. Everything else just sort of fades away.

I'm writing a book right now. Some of it is very good. Some of it is quite dreadful. I likely won't know to which side of the fence it all falls until it's finished. In the meantime I press on. It's painful and exhilerating and maybe too much for my little brain to handle. But I press on.

My wife and my little girl fill in the rest of my life with everything that's truly important. Without them I don't know who I'd be. With them I end up smiling far more than I have any right. Every morning, noon and evening I thank the Lord for blessing my life in so many ways. More than any, I thank him for giving me two such wonderful people to lean on and to support. I see the grace of God in our family and I hope He can see the same.

That's all for now. Not much of an introduction I suppose. Just the things most important to me. The things that will survive the winter.

I best get back to the novel.