Tag Archives: faith

“Reason to Write Poems”

— Song of My Soul, Song of My Tenelach I do not writeto follow rulesor to walk the tidy pathssomeone else laid down. I writebecause something inside mehas begun to speak—a small trembling voicethat feels less like my ownand more … Continue reading

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“Meeting After a Quarter Century Passed”

This afternoon, the children of the mockingbirds gathered on the backyard fence, speaking all at once, as though they knew someone precious had come home. Two little puppies rested upon the grass, their breathing slower than the summer wind. The … Continue reading

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“Living in the Well”

—while in conversation with Rev. Tim Riss There are those who spend a lifetime living inside a well. The sky above them is neither false nor complete. It is simply the measure their eyes have learned. To know the boundary … Continue reading

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“Peace with Justice”

Peace is not the silence left behind by exhausted armies. Peace is justice learning to breathe through human hands. It is the widow who no longer fears the night. It is the child who falls asleep without listening for sirens. … Continue reading

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“When the Earth Cries Out”

(For Joan Sebastian Guerrero, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, and all whose names become prayers) The earth cried out before anyone spoke. Before the reports were written. Before the questions were asked. Before explanations searched for words that could never mend a … Continue reading

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“The Day After Election”

Some won. Some lost. But dawn arrived without choosing sides. The buses breathed along their routes. Shop doors opened to familiar streets. A farmer touched the soil still holding yesterday’s rain. A mother set bowls upon the table. An old … Continue reading

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“Fresh Waters, My Home Church”

– For Changchun Methodist Church, 120 Years A clear stream runs through the world, not with noise, not with power, but with the patience of water finding every thirsty root. On a Sunday morning, the prophet speaks again: “These waters … Continue reading

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“At Hyupsung, with an Old Friend”

We journeyed southward, to the city where King Yeongjo‘s Suwon HwaSung Fortress beneath the patient hills, where generations pass and memory lingers among the pines. There I met again my old friend, Rev. Dr. Se-Hyoung Lee, teacher of teachers, a … Continue reading

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“Traveling”

Early summer. I sit upon a bench before Sungsan Art-hall Grand Theater in Changwon, Korea, waiting, listening, already traveling before a single note is sung. Not by airplane, not by train, not by the crowded arteries of cities— but by … Continue reading

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“The Ranger Platoon of Love”

I sing the red-capped Master Sergeant, chief instructor of the Rangers on Gamaksan, whose voice once rolled through the mountains like thunder among the pines, whose boots struck the ridges and taught young men how to climb fear, how to … Continue reading

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