Peter Venable

POETRY

Behold

Behold spring twilight. Backyard porch.
Frankincense wafts to rafters, as it did
eons ago in Ephratah. Child, sit down!
We have honored Magi. A bright star
twinkles above dark pines —
the beacon then?

Ghost crabs burrow in my skin.
Sand fleas scamper in sea-oat hair.
Leg worts burgeon like barnacled pilings.
These saltwater channels narrow, motor sputters,
chipped propellers idle. The stern leaks
and steering wheel loosens in dead calm.
My last blink will close like winter cottage shutters.

Behold, I tell you a mystery — we shall all be changed.
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye … *

Crickets’ serenade. Incense burns out.
The North Star, past The Milky Way,
beyond Webb’s peek,
speaks the greatest mystery:
I shall be raised a spiritual body.*

*1 Cor. 15.51, 44.

Blank Verse Easier Than Blank Mind.

My mind is either on or off my God.
My mind hops like a cricket here and there.
Unless I task, daydreams lift me away.
Some memory, or fantasy, I’m off.
Then I recall the Holy One in mind.
I sense his presence on my backyard porch.
When I begin to pray, He’s here and now.
Give praise — confess — and intercede for them.
But when I still my mind, dam up its flow,
I see the sunlight shafts between the leaves …
Inhale Vanilla Spice filling the porch.
I close my eyes and pause my wayward thoughts.
I listen to the whisper of His voice.
A thought arises and again I’m gone.
I breathe deeply, be still and know He is.
My mind is either on or off my God.

The writer (Peter Venable) has written Christian verse for many decades. He’s appeared in Amethyst Review, The Windhover, The Christian Century, The Merton Seasonal, etc. He is a septuagenarian, “Poppy” to granddaughters, volunteers at a prison camp and takes inmates to Celebrate Recovery. His Jesus Through A Poet’s Lens is available on Kindle.

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Image: Night sky from Hyatt Lake by Bureau of Land Management Oregon and Washington, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr.com.