Dimensions of Hope in Friendship

Friendship provides opportunity to indulge in nearly complete catharsis of joy with others. "Friend", "Underwear", "Prism", and "Encounter" describes such experience during daily life. Friends can bring radiant color to our souls. Friends empower us to slow down and smell the roses.

"Winter Dream" and "Dream Visitor" came in the middle of the night after awakening from intense dreams containing emotional splendors rarely encountered in life. I have had the great fortune of actually meeting and sharing life with the woman who revealed herself in these dreams. With friends we can etch contrails through the matrix of life. We can do all things.

"Mail", "Community" and "Advocate" speak to the great strength we can gain from our friendships. Self-doubt can be obliterated by the kinds words of a friend showing up in Monday's afternoon mail. The incivility of society can be replaced with loving wonderment. With the enablement of another, sharing complementary strengths, one can reach the stars. "Advocate" speaks of the time a dear friend prayed for me during an important milestone in my life.

Friendship can have its dark side. Marriage, the ultimate friendship can produce exquisite pain in its failure. "Reconciliation" acknowledges this and offers a bit of hope for broken relationships. On rare occasion, I have observed the vast healing that grows from reconciliation. A marriage was restored after many years of brokenness. "Angst" reveals shared pain between two lovers. Recently, a close friend suffered through the loss of an infant. "Empath" describers the healing that comes from sharing another's pain. Great comfort comes from casting aside our aloneness for friendship.

"Bench" describes an encounter with a memorial bench in a botanical garden where I sat musing about the short life for whom this bench had been given.


Advocate

Flying on the power of your prayer,
my satiated soul soars to secret Places.

A firm Hand sustains my ascension;
defying gravity's inexorable attraction.

Cobalt heavens wax star-studded ebony,
terra firma releasing me to Elysium.

Iridescent wisps in Cygnus beckon,
offering glimpse of nebular Marvels.

Obscuring Orion's opulent mysteries,
your devotion eclipses luminary wonders.

With you I can reach the stars.


Prism

Intense solar radiance, dazzling,
illuminates your interior with fire.

Beams of platinum brilliance, shimmering,
fracture into myriad spectral delights.

Deep dark recesses of my being, yielding,
are tantalized by your multi-hued facets.

You bring Color to my life.


Friend

I get caught up in circadian busyness.
You take time to peel apples and smile.

I eat mass-produced bread out of a bag.
You fill the air with delectate aromas.

I glimpse floral wonders while hurrying out.
You take time to water and nurture them.

I bring your tupperware back empty.
You send it back filled with life energy.

I make sure the cat has food and water.
You makes sure she purrs and plays.

When one falls alone, he stays down.
When he falls with a friend, he gets up.

Give the dog a biscuit for me.


Encounter

Basking in quiet pools of contentment,
You cast aureate nuggets into my life.

Serene surfaces, reflecting calm cumulus canopies,
are etched with contrails of Your endearing Presence.

Ever widening circles of shared joy grow,
creating latticeworks of Your phosphorescent Radiance.

Your inner Translucence dispels shadows,
illuminating the dark places in my soul.

Poverty of spirit is foreclosed,
redeemed by the sterling riches of your kinship.

May I take your hand?


Angst

Far away, tendrils of your heartache
extend darkness in the lingering night.

Cold mist shrouds my soul;
early morning warmth eluding me.

Shared pain galvanizing great grief,
I send prayers of petition Beyond Orion.

Your tears staining our hearts,
I look behind stars for your Comfort.

He answers.


Mail

Advertisements adjure accumulation,
invoices invoke immediate insult.

Magazines mentioning monstrous menace;
catalogues compel conspicuous consumption.

Renewals require requisite response,
annual assessment announcements appear.

Uncivil reminders committing affront;
I am but a wallet disguised as human.

Yet, I am far, far more,
one made in the image of God.

How know I this great secret?
Today, your kind words were delivered.

And the stamp wasn't cancelled.


Winter Dream

It is the time of quiet rest,
a still prelude to spring's wild abundance.

You come to me in dreamy darkness,
giving me a glimpse of radiant warmth.

My heart is alive, vibrant with expectancy;
you hold my hand, your smile thawing inner ice.

With kindred gazes, your eyes portals of life,
we dance across the cold crystalline matrix.

Our shared blades leaving frozen contrails,
guide seekers to a Higher Way.

Gothic splendor lifts our timeless joy;
we dance before our transfixed spectators,
the center of all life, of all knowledge.

Descendent snow muffins,
clouds of crystalline wonder;
your airborne breath of life,
frozen, solidifies in my reality.

My heart is warmed, fear has melted ...
You have taught me the dance of life.

I can do all things.


Dream Visitor

Did you come to me in a dream,
a wisp of fragrant possibility?

The darkness yielding to soft lumination,
your brightness fills my inner darkness.

Contented, safe, predictable, sure,
your seismic intrusion has me wondering.

Stillness, lost in the denseness of everything,
I believe you can help me find it again.

Contentment, that high difficult place to reach,
I don't want to come down from here.

Take my hand, perhaps we can climb higher.


Reconciliation

Our eyes met back across all those years,
our spirits filled with hopeful expectation.
Our idealism, wonderment, anticipation
fired our imaginations of what could be.

With grand dreams in hand,
we embarked on that timeless journey.
We exchanged tokens of majestic brilliance,
joyous spectators sent us off to our dream.

We awoke to circadian reality,
visions consigned to wisps of memory.
New fantasies occluded my consciousness,
consigning our dreams to lost memories.

Sixteen hour flights to fame and fortune,
they would fill the inner void, I heard.
Seven day marathons, more, more, more,
they told me would soon satisfy.

In your loneliness, you gave,
I never lacked for fuel.
As I raced, you made sure I shone,
my flight suit never wrinkled.

I consigned you to the dreamless desert,
no one there to share possibilities.
Your spirit withered in the heat of desertion,
you sought refreshment on your knees.



My wings carried me to the stratosphere,
my sights on the grand rewards of toil.
My spirit heavy with power and fame,
I cut you loose, hoping to gain altitude.

Little did I know, you were my rudder,
keeping me on a level path.
Little did I know you recorded my flight plan
each day with Him who makes the clouds.

Spiraling downward out of control,
beyond my limits, beyond myself, I cried out.
Another Pilot showed me the Way to safety;
coming on the updraft of your prayers.

Your love, rooted deep in true Water,
kept your thirst slaked in drought.
With your love unbounded by self,
you brought me water when I landed.

How about a nice walk?


Community

In these moments of stillness,
quietly gathering, we draw strength.

In silence we hear inner messages,
bringing us new hope and promise.

In our corporate solitude,
we celebrate communion of shared joy.

Flames of fellowship fanned,
incandescent radiance bursts forth.

We share the light of our lives,
bringing renewal and possibility.


Empath

Frigid winds blow away warmth of summer,
constellations of future dreams frozen in fear.

Azure skies of contentment give way;
twilight crowding out brilliance of day.

Starless night cloaks my sightless soul,
visions of life pushed beyond memory's edge.

Stumbling in terminal shadows of anguish,
searing pain blinds my fearful eyes to life.

Travelling alone into that uncharted valley,
vast loneliness isolates me from the living.

The dissonance of my silent suffering pausing,
Your Compassionate Presence enters the abyss with me.

Journeying into the horrors of my pain,
sympathetic sentience stirs in Your Soul.

I pause from my tribulations with wonderment,
Your shared torment easing the burden of letting go.

Healing words pushing back malignant despair,
glints of love in Your eyes dispel inner blackness.

In the refreshment of Your tears,
a healing possibility sprouts in my heart.

You will meet me there?


Underwear

Winter coldness penetrating icy soul,
your kindness warms me from within.

Shivering in the early morning chill,
I open my drawer looking for shorts.

Surprised, I find warmth and harmony,
the wrinkled morass ordered by your love.

I dance through the day.


Bench

Riding the electric trolley Sunday afternoon,
I shared joy with others living their dreams.

My day colorized with resplendent blooms,
hopeful expectations paint my aureate future.

This tranquil space, set aside for peace,
enfolds me in shimmering arboreal fantasy.

Walking in sacred cathedrals of spruce,
I came upon a memorial to your life.

Finely crafted wood, embellished with brass,
tells me your short life was of great value.

I wonder what gracious soul loved you;
wanting me to know of your brief sojourn.

What were your favorite comic strips?
Were you a Trekkie? Ever play baseball?

Did you ever fall in enraptured love?
Did you have communion at sunset with another?

Did you find your Way to that far Place,
where night never comes and pain is no more?

Mind if I sit down?