Walks are good...

I am walking along

a place so quiet

I can hear the wings of the moth beat

I can hear the grass sway in the wind

yet

I cannot hear the river

So I keep walking along

I hear the quail chirping in the blackberries

I hear the duck wings as they fly swiftly by

yet

I cannot hear the river

So I keep walking along

humming a song

that flows from the river within

I lift my eyes

to late winter skies

It is more the beginning of spring

before I realize anyone, anything

I see the river

Rising up before me

yet

before I saw it

I heard it

It was then I knew

K, Duane Carter 2-16-12

Hope

Hope

I am swaying in the wind

Anchored to this earth

Yearning for the mirth

Of flight and fancy and feast

Yet leafless and among the least

I reach for sky, reaching through the why

Longing to breathe the incense

The colors they do speak to me

They speak of freedom and royalty

Which is where I’m told I am

I reach out to grab the wind, the hand

All the while moving in circles

Yet there is promise, yet there is hope

I find beauty in the presence

Life in the smoke

I feel the roots to the earth are strengthening

All while the promise of new green breaks through

The clouds speak of a new tomorrow

And the start of a new today

K, Duane Carter 1-26-12

Slumber

Slumber

That time between the worlds, secession

Where sleep is dream and wake is a question

Where our souls get closer to where our spirits dwell

And oceans wander and the deep does swell

Where light and life and echoes cease

To be just yearnings and are released

There the call of wonder comes

It beckons for the light of sun

Yet is saddened by its appearance for

The soul does long and cries for more

Of the time between the worlds in slumber

Worlds where what is not is number

Worlds where what can be are living

Worlds where what we need are giving

Everything our heart desires

In living waters and spirit fires

We step into a flowing river

That brings us warmth and makes flesh shiver

Until it seems it is no more

Where last week’s sky is this week’s floor

And all of this wrapped up in time

To walk along in slumber’s rhyme

Is to be so close to heaven we can taste it

K, Duane Carter 12-22-10  

I was going through some of my older journals, just looking at where I was at last year and thinking over the past year, and I found this.  It sparked something on the inside, so I thought I would share it.  I pray it sparks a flame in you also :).  Happy New Year.

Footsteps

Footsteps

Tonight I heard the sound

My heart, my soul, my flesh have longed for it now

I heard, I felt, the rumble

The rumble of God taking a step

He comes, with light in His eyes

With goodness flowing from Him

Love flowing from His every breath

Life arising, felling death

I heard it again, another rumble

Deep, shaking, earth-trembling

But what is this?

The sounds grow closer and closer together

Until it joins into a thunder

A mighty, shaking thunder

Faster and faster it rolls

Until I realize

It is my Father

Running to scoop me up into His arms

I fear no more

I fear no more

The rushing wind of His mighty arms sweeps me up

I am raised to new life

The thunder is now a roar, the roar of the Lion

The roar of billions of angels

Saying it is time to rise, look up, arise

The Father’s face I recognize

Though at first all I knew was the sound of His footsteps

It’s amazing at what happens in the silence

K. Duane Carter 12-29-11

Reflections

Reflections

Years have slipped on by

As I have wandered this grassy knoll

I have steadily wandered further west

Until the ocean has hemmed me in

Now I stand with this familiar feeling again

Of the unknown, the untested, the unseen

The wondering of what everything does mean

While all the while not really having to know

Doubts are fading, peacefulness grows

In this garden that I have come upon

Where I never hear a familiar song

Yet my heart has heard them all before

My eternal eyes see an eternal door

My mind does not know how to unlatch it

The yielding does know how to catch it

Entering on the invitation

Not striving in dark gyration

I simply walk into something so much bigger than I

Not remembering the when, not understanding the why

I simply walk in realizing

Good Father led me the entire way

He’s led me far today…

Right in the midst of the stillness

K, Duane Carter 12-1-11

Let There Be...

Darkness, steeped to the foundations

Chaos, the only stirring in the night

Until a ever silky breeze enters in

The ever-listening heart of God

Hears the Word of the Painter

He smiles, and He silently opens His wings

He hovers

A gentle voice, like that of a lovely woman

Goes forth

Simultaneously the universe trembles

And it has never stopped since

There, cutting through the darkness and chaos

Was light, and life and color

Beauty and wonder

The laughter still has not ceased

Neither will our wonder at it all

See this is all above the fall

The Laughter never ceases

It just continues to expand and expand

In every direction

Through every parameter

Blowing through all of our paradigms

Misting through all of our walls

Showing up in all of the oddest places

Where it perfectly fits the all

K, Duane Carter 11-26-11

I was deeply inspired to write this after listening to a song entitled "Let There Be" by Gungor.  If you're interested in listening, it is off their newest album entitled "Ghosts on the Earth."  I was going to title the poem something different, so I wouldn't have to bear the guilt of feeling like I had plagiarized it, but the title was just too perfect for me to give up.  Thanks to the Gungor crew for releasing such beauty and creativity and sharing it with us all.  By the way, if they are ever in your area GO SEE THEM.  You will never forget it.  They put on the most powerful and beautiful live performances I've ever seen.  Don't miss it if they are close by.  :)

Formulae

Formulae

The thing I don’t like about formulas

Is that it takes all of the magic away

Yet at the same time they are woven throughout the universe

Dancing throughout the night and the day

Why is that?

Please don’t say that is just how it came to be

For I have seen the grandeur of the ocean

I have felt the complexity of the tree

I have delighted in flights of pure wonder

I have known the great mystery of Whom

I’ve been enraptured by the beauty of flower

I’ve seen life as it comes forth from the womb

See, the thing I don’t like about formulas

Is that it takes all of the magic away

Yet at the same time they are woven throughout the universe

Dancing throughout the night and the day

And I’m just beginning to hear the music

K, Duane Carter 11-25-11