In the Sunshine

In the Sunshine

I love life

I love the green in it

I love the peace in it

The quiet

The turmoil 

The dust 

I love renewal 

But it takes a death

A turning

A burial 

A yearning 

A burning

In a fire that never sleeps 

I love geometry 

The lines

The angles

The curves and libations 

Smiles and sadness

Profound rotations

Along a symmetry that never ends

I hear the sirens

They bring me back to an earthen space

I feel the longing pains for grace

That overcomes all my lack of reasons

I feel the air, I sense the seasons 

Are forever returning to the grand delights

No longer night

Chasing

Chasing

I get tired of chasing inspiration

I get frustrated with interruptions

This ever-gnawing, ever-present desire

Something beyond words, a burning fire

So deep within I cannot see it nor hear it

Yet I most assuredly can feel it

It is my life calling me forth

It is life itself calling me into the beyond

Beyond normalcy, beyond status quo

Even beyond the knowns of excellent and good

Into realms of even better and best

Places of peace, places of rest

Where I have no part in a chaotic hurricane

Rather I stand in the cooling rain

Just taking in the rainbows from the sunshine

It’s light is there no matter the circumstances

No matter the mistakes, the crushed romances

No matter the costs, the worries, the trials

No matter the doubts, curses or dark denials

Light does shine, darkness doesn’t argue

My every lot, my every sinew

Is washed anew in this effervescence 

Mystery

Mystery

Light and shadow

Reflection and reflections

These can be a mystery

They remind us there is more than materialism in all its disarray

They remind us there is another world out there

A world where darkness and light collide

And the light always wins

And even when our material world tries to block out the light

It simply makes the light even more striking and wondrous

Reminding us even more resoundly

There is another world out there

Where light always wins

Presents

Presents

I sit in the presence of golden and shadows

While my soul it does the same

Yet there is something wondrous about the light

In all of it’s amber revelations

That speaks of infinity, and, yes, beyond

A presence that is always there and always love

Even as the earth turns her face away

She is still met with warm and gentle kisses

Even though the light does fade

It truly never does

It is always burning, always bright, always beautiful

Nothing in this world can stop it

Nor can anything in any other world for that matter

I sit in the presence of the golden and the shadows

Knowing that even in the midst of coming darkness

The light is always shining on my face

K, Duane Carter 1/10/13

Shed Light

It saddens me that Christians don’t even understand the cross.  The very thing that symbolizes “Christianity” is disregarded, it’s meaning and power are completely ignored, and it’s message is NOT distributed by the very ones that wear the symbol on their shirts, necklaces, and ear rings.  And what I mean by that is all of this negative “these are the things that are going to happen to America if we don’t change” stuff.  I particularly love the word “judgment” (which in most circles is the equivalent of the word “punishment”).  BUT, we have got to understand something that is foundational to the greatness of the gospel:  the judgment of God has ALREADY occurred, and it occurred at the cross.  God has ALREADY judged the world, and He has already judged the enemy and inflicted the penalty ON JESUS at the cross.  He’s not going to release judgment (and understand that I am using the word ‘judgment’ here in the context of ‘punishment’) because He’s already released that.  What He is waiting on is for those of us who call Him “Father” to begin to live like the sons and daughters we are.  He’s waiting on us to live like the free people we are.  He is waiting on us to love.  That’s it.  He’s not waiting on us to beg Him not to smash us.  Maybe we should begin to ask the questions like, “We’ve been praying these things for years now, so why aren’t things changing?  Why isn’t this working?”  The answer is NOT because we aren’t protesting enough, being vocal enough, or praying hard enough.  It’s because we aren’t praying God’s heart.  Yes His heart is restoration, revival, and reformation of the nations.  But this will happen in love, because love never fails.  Punishment fails because it’s based in fear.  So please dear children of God, please STOP using fear as a “motivator” because that isn’t motivation or encouragement, that is manipulation.  Don’t give me the “love can give warnings” stuff either.  That misses the entire point.  Yes, love can give warnings, and right now it is warning us that we must do things God’s way, in love, and His way is not filling people with fear about crises and storms and wars.  If people in the church can’t get it that we are to love others and walk in the authority He gives us in that love, then I tell you He is going to find people that will (remember the Jesus movement?).  There’s the warning.  If you’re sitting in the community of Christ and propagating fear, then continue to expect things to look like they’re getting worse.  If you’re determined to love and love deeply, then get ready for the world to  change.  Get ready to be able to actually see things the way God sees them.  He isn’t worried, nor is He afraid.  It is very easy for light to remove darkness, and the darkness has already been conquered.  Remember this short sentence which I think personally is one of the most powerful statements ever made:  Love never fails.  

Shed light.  Shed light by letting love loose.  THAT is what will bring change to this nation and to the nations of the world. 

Sunset Morning

Sunset Morning

I step into another sunset morning

Where my eyes are closed

And I see the dreams

The place where I don’t know what anything means

Yet I know that it means everything

I hear the rhythms of distant stars

They awake the heavens and 

Dance does meet

With the sounds of the baby’s kicking feet

Even as she is hidden in womb

The wonder calls us all from the tomb

To taste, to smell, to dance, to live

To wonder, to know, to love, to give

Then I awake to amber skies and

The sounds of sunrise

I cry out to the top of my lungs

From the very depths

Life bursts from me, and it continues on

It’s time to rise

Time to shine

The light is on my face

And it comes from His

I awake to the amber skies

The sounds of sunrise

I am truly alive

K, Duane Carter 4/8/12  Happy Easter!

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

Timeless

Timeless
Time is a created thing
Which means there is a place
Outside of the realm of time
Which means there is a trace
Of something eternal in our rhyme
I wonder how one gets there?

Wouldn’t it be so nice to be
One who dwelt in eternity,
Unconstrained by how long we had to be there?
I wonder if the gate is the air
I wonder how does one get there?

A thought occurs to me, it seems
That we enter there in a land of dreams
Where we see things before we see them
Where feather, flight, light and gem
Dance through cloudy visions
But unlike our apparitions
They are very much more real
So I slip into the world surreal

And let timelessness lead me on

K, Duane Carter 12-3-10

This Place

This Place

my heart is yearning for a place in the light

where there is nothing but color, nowhere is night

it is so close I can sense it

I can hear it in the music, flowing in three’s

I can see it in color in the midst of the trees

I can glimpse it through the vision of my periphery

I can feel it in the heartbeat of a spirit that is free

I feel it moving, moving

Entering from the left

And no soul, no spirit

will be left empty or bereft

my heart is yearning for a place in the light

and this world as no one knows it is coming quickly to sight

right into this place, right here and now…

K, Duane Carter 11-29-10

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 on earth…

K, Duane Carter 4-27-10

Trilogy

Trilogy

Light
I see the shadows shifting
Moving across my window pane
The dancing of light in moving motion
It travels down the lane
The moving speaks of time and times
That sing and dance all around
Just what you think is moving up
Is really coming down
As His goodness showers us all

Wind
I cannot see You, I cannot see You
Yet I see You move in what You do
The swaying branches, the rustling leaves
The golden harvest in browning sheaves
The movements, the motions, the sounds, the dance
They level and flatten all mere circumstance
I see You, I see You in all that You do
I see You, I see You making all of me new

Water
The power of droplet, and the cleansing of wave
Universal solvent meets the passion of love
That washes over and over and over again
It cleanses what will be, it cleanses what has been
Even cleansing what is and what is now
Though I know it with my brow
I still cannot comprehend, no, I still cannot comprehend
But I drink it in.

I drink it in

K. Duane Carter
3-19-09

Cage of Lights

Cage of Lights

I am sitting in a cage of lights
Yet pretending I am unseen
Looking out at those looking in
And wondering what it means
I sit here in my sleeping dreams
Releasing all of my doubt
I wonder when the Sun will rise
And cast the darkness out
I am sitting in the silent noise
That speaks but doesn’t say
I am wandering as a little boy
Just wondering how to pray
I live in a land of wonder here
And when I open up my eyes
I hear the sunlight coming through
My heart is mesmerized

I am free


K. Duane Carter

3-16-09