Monday, February 28, 2011

Memorials



Memorials

Even those things we set into stone
Will one day pass, will one day groan
As the wind lifts off the dust and sand
The rain will take them by the hand

And cast them into the wells of time
So they may be dissolved into unknown, unrhymed
Nutrient for a future and a promise and hope
The bucket is lowered, extended the rope

What is raised up is only what has been lowered
Standing upright, unafraid, uncowered
Yet full of the essence, full of unknown
What is harvested now is what has been sown

But no one remembers where it came from…

K, Duane Carter 2-28-11

The Shadow


The Shadow

I was going through a darkness,
A darkness so thick, it was so hard to see
I could not see my face, I did not even know me
But then there was another darkness
That was quiet and warm and awesome and firm
And it completely drowned out the other, a mist of passionate dew
And then I felt the feathers and then and there I knew
It was the shadow of the Most High

I was walking through the wilderness
Nothing but the wild beasts and the dark ones
Waiting for their opportunity to pounce
I then felt goodness with every ounce
And the fear of nothing but the Lord came upon me
It was the shadow of the Most High

I came upon one with cancer
One with affliction, heartache and disease
I felt the oppression laughing
Thinking it could do whatever it pleased
And then I heard it shriek, I saw it vanish,
And I watched it melt before my eyes
My heart by the Presence was mesmerized
It was the shadow of the Most High

So you may be walking through a darkness
Where suddenly it seems darker still
But don’t be discouraged just open your heart
And trust Him, just trust Him until
You can sense Him too, knowing whatever you do
You are covered, protected, and warmed
By the shadow of the Most High

It’s the brightest place in the universe…

K, Duane Carter 4-27-10



Thursday, February 24, 2011

Transform



Water has been made for walking on
The sun has been formed to see
Clouds have been placed for flying through
I have been made to be

Age has been made for more wisdom
Yet not for more fear nor more pain
Desire has been formed in the fiery place
It is to be tasted again and again

Snow has been formed to be tasted
Impossible is meant to be turned
Desire it is formed in the fiery place
My heart is designed to be burned

Transform

K, Duane Carter 2-24-11

Monday, February 21, 2011

Whispers


Whispers

Can I really change the world?
Sitting in my dark blue recliner
Unknown, unseen, unheard
Except by the One
The One known as World Changer
He is also Father, Love, and Goodness
I whisper in His ear
Words so simple, so plain, yet
I feel His smile grow wide
The light of His face turns to me
I hear His heartbeat for me
I have touched the heart of the World Changer
Just being a child, simple, carefree
In the moment of contact, in the moment of sound
I have become a world changer myself
I am no longer a dusty nothing left on a shelf
No, I am a child with a say
It’s time to play

K, Duane Carter 2-21-11







Dawn in the Upper Window


Dawn in the Upper Window

I awake to a sliver of light
Dancing through the upper window
I see clouds running to the west
In search for gold and rest
Just like the men below
Quaking in their fright

Suddenly the birds appear
Moving like the sonic wave
And just as suddenly they are gone
Always moving as is their home
In the forgiveness they danced and forgave
So in their height there is no fear

The barren tree lifts arms to sky
The winds they cause his arms to swing
The motion swirls now with the clouds
The sunlight does remove the shrouds
Life is coming in the spring; life is coming in the spring
We still can’t answer the question “Why?”

The upper limbs form Sophocles’ mask
One side laughs, the other side grim
Yet the wind moves on this shattered grin
You know not where, you know not when
You know not who, you just know of Him
You are at the place where you can ask

The sliver has erupted into majestic beams
The clouds are crowned with gold and light
Their motion breathless through the heavens
I close my eyes and feel the seven’s
For now there can be no more night
Love is now the dancing seam

K, Duane Carter 2-21-11

Sunday, February 20, 2011

The Mask



Dark sounds
From the dark side
Yet there are some things
We just can’t hide

To enter into beauty
To wield wonder instead of death
We reveal our true humanity
Instead of the mask that gives us breath

We enter sound, we enter truth
We enter wholeness, we enter youth
We utter mysteries that raise the dead
We go beyond what is in our head

To enter into beauty
To wield wonder instead of death
We must reveal our true humanity
Instead of the mask that gives us breath

K. Duane Carter 2-20-11

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Another Oldie

I wrote this in response to One-Stop Poetry's query about older poems that were written as youths.  Here's one from all the way back in 1986 (I was seventeen).  WOW!  They didn't even have mp3 players back then!  Hope you enjoy "The Most Beautiful Night."


The Most Beautiful Night
The silvery dark sky of night
Shifts slowly with the passing clouds
Which slowly obscures the twinkling light
Of the temple of stars with a puffy shroud.

The full moon glistens with joyful pride
As the passing clouds catch the beams
Now nothing on the earth can hide
From the light that falls while people dream.

A darkened daylight, a quiet hush
Moves over the night as a flowing stream
The silence broken by a speckled thrush
To wake us from enchanted dreams.

The whispering moon bids farewell
And beckons the sun to appear
Then the speckled thrush sings the tale
Of the most beautiful night of the year.
                                                                       


kdc  3-2-86

Monday, February 14, 2011

I Yearn for You


I Yearn for You
As the ocean yearns to reach the shore
So I yearn to reach to you.
As the moonlight softly touches earth
So I so softly reach to you.
As the sunlight warms the lonely soil
So your smile does help me glow.
As the wind whispers secrets through waving arms
So your heartbeat I do know.

As the stars appear on quiet nights
So I will appear to you.
As the rosebud bursts to sudden bloom
So my love does grow for you.
As the bird’s songs rise into the sky
So my heart does sing a song
As I see you and know you every day
So there my love for you grows strong.

K, Duane Carter 2-14-11

Angel's wings



Sometimes we wake from our slumbers
And we see beyond what we can see
A momentary glimpse into other worlds
Worlds where we were created to be
Sometimes it is a wonder in imagination
Still it stands right there by our eyes
Sometimes we see what is expected
When our hearts are young, mesmerized
We see angel’s wings in a flower
We see color when all is black; all is white
We see goodness where no one is looking
We see love that consumes all the fright

Yet all we were doing was sleeping…

K, Duane Carter 2-14-10

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Arising



Arising

A darkened surreal mist
The cold silence, like a fist
Has pounded me mercilessly through the night
Its only goal for me to walk in fright

Yet

Leafless branches curling, gnarling
Like the knuckled hands now unfurling
For they can with darkness no more abound
I feel the morning dew about to come down

Wonder

I feel the colors coming in a tide
For the chill attempts to come inside
But fire is without; fire is within
The cold tries to run again and again

Yet

There is nowhere but dust for it to go
Goodness and beauty I can now always know
For the brightness has come, it has now arisen
My chains have come off, I no longer in prison

Wonder

K, Duane Carter 2-12-11

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Lassen Peak

Lassen Peak

I sit in a February sun
Breeze and sounds of movement on
The peak of Lassen set before me
Snowcapped and majestic and beckoning
I sense His moving deep within
I can’t hold back the motions that quickly sprint
Throughout my being as He draws close by
And there is not a doubt; there is not a sigh
Only a calm I’ve never know before
I think I just walked through heaven’s door…

K, Duane Carter 2-5-11


Friday, February 4, 2011

Whippoorwill


Whippoorwill

Along a path of darkness trod
Step by step I silently plod
Wondering if I am going anywhere at all
Or is it all just a grand and glorious fall?

I am told there is no such thing as seeing
I am told there is only a blind believing
Yet there is another voice much more silent still
The peaceful sound of the whippoorwill
Telling me there is much, much more

The sound does vibrate into my heart
I feel a splitting, the atoms part
Then there is nothing but brilliant, brilliant light
More energy than I could ever, ever conceive
It is no longer night

Within a valley of decision
I faced the laughs and all the derision
Yet determined to set my face like flint
I opened my eyes; I refused to squint
I see the most beautiful thing I ever have seen

K, Duane Carter 2-4-11