Blast from the Past!!!

Longing
Time is fleeting by, never stopping
To hear the water from the rose petal dropping
Into the softened earth that gives us breath
The same earth which holds us after death
So much to do, so much to give
So much to see, we can’t help but live
For the time is fleeting, never stopping
To hear the withered rose petal dropping
To the chilling earth that beckons death
The same earth that holds our every breath
Of somber wind and playful breeze
Of peaceful lakes and roaring seas
That know not that time which slips away
That know not that death that shall come one day
To meager mortals, as they sit dying
Who can do nothing but complain how their time is flying
With the hummingbird: it is here, it is gone.
Days are so desolate when spent all alone
With only the clock as a friend
The day will soon end
As the life of a small rose petal, dropping to the softened earth.
What gentle mirth will be when there is no time.
kdc 6-87

I have been getting the last 25 years of poetry I have written put all together.  I've come across several I wrote as a teenager, and thought, "What the heck!!  Let's post this old stuff!!"  I was a little more dark and introspective back then....

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

Hamlet's Autumn

Hamlet’s Autumn

Shadows move to block my sight

Of the golden rods lifted to blue skies

Yet they cannot

Mere shadows cannot contain

The knives that disrupt my tapestry

Nor do they contain the substance to withhold me

That alone rests in my choice

To be or not to be

Do I move on toward the impossibilities

Or do I rest in the nothings of the shadows...

That is the question...

K, Duane Carter  11/23/12

Gardens in the Desert

Gardens in the Desert

When the mind is full of emptiness

The heart filled up with sand

the dryness reaches up into my mouth,

it reaches deeply into my hands

In that place I speak to the rock

The waters come forth in a wild, passionate rush

It wasn’t necessarily my command

It was His heart

He was waiting on me to join in with Him

Because it is just so much more fun that way

To watch the sun stand still the day

To see Him make all the difference

Just what is this thing that is underway?

Just what is this journey to restore?

Just what is this walk through heaven’s gates

Which fully satisfies yet still longs for more?

What is it that Your heart longs for?

What is it that Your heart desires?

What more could it be than to be rejoined

With the ones that carry eternal fires,

While all the same bringing the great waters

The restoration of sons, of daughters

Who only know love as their vivacious passion

K, Duane Carter 11/2/12

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. 

Carried

Carried

I spoke into the waters

The waters spoke then into me

My words went into their very mists

Their mists then set me free

I sit amidst the songs of God

Amidst the peace of trees

I welcome gladness into my soul

I rest here on my knees

I’ve walked around the bended path

The sights I no more see

But the roar is still inside my heart

Forever flowing out from me

No silence could ever stop it

K, Duane Carter 10/18/12

Ancient

Ancient

There is tremendous pressure when from the seed breaks the shoot

There is a great energy spent when the infant comes from the womb

There is enormous straining as the butterfly escapes the cocoon

So why should my life be any different?

There is a great fragility as the shoot breaks through the soil

There is the same as the infant breathes in the toil

There is that moment that the butterfly cannot 

So where am I in this vulnerability?

There is tremendous stability in the ancient oak

There is a vast wisdom in the ancients’ cloaks

There is truth and wonder in the butterfly’s flight

So why should my life be any different?

K, Duane Carter 2-16-12